Christ’s Cuppers Coming of Age

Christ’s 7 – 2 John’s

Christ’s college ended St John’s dominance of men’s cuppers tennis with a comprehensive win at Fenners’.

After a disappointing 5-4 loss to Downing last year and a runner-up finish the year before (again to John’s), Christ’s came into this year’s cuppers competition looking to shake off the tag of perennial underachievers that the talented team possesses. John’s, on the other hand, have held the cuppers trophy for several years and looked to continue their apparent monopoly over the tournament.

However, solid singles performances backed up by a 100% doubles record ensured that Christ’s walked away with the trophy, much to former captain and Christ’s stalwart AJ Nowell’s pleasure.

At the top of the order was Johnston vs Jenkins, both members of the mens’ blues tennis squad and from the same successful Bradford Grammar tennis team. Jenkins has not got the better of Johnston in a best of 3 set match for some time, leading Johnson to feel “quietly confident” throughout the match. The trend continued and Johnston’s confidence was backed up as he won a tight first set before closing out the match 7-5 6-1.

From Moynihan vs Rogers to McLoughlin vs Robinson the matches were similarly close, with Jenkins stating that “many of the singles could have gone either way. Except Shah’s, who won like (6-)1 and (6-)0”, yet it was the nerve of the Christ’s team that prevailed with the score standing at 4-2 with the three doubles to be played.

Despite only needing to win one further match to secure victory, Christ’s closed out the tie in emphatic fashion, winning all 3 matches, and on the way displaying moments of “characteristic flair”, notably Nowell, who pulled off “the most ridiculous drop volley ever” (Jenkins) to earn match point in the final set of his and Johnston’s doubles.

MVP: Cameron Johnston – he provided the strength at the top of the order that Christ’s have notably lacked in recent years allowing them to convert promising strength in depth into actual results, and now, the cuppers trophy.

Overall results (Christ’s Team’s names first)

Cameron Johnston beat Nick Jenkins

Alex Moynihan beat Ciaran Rogers

Alex Greaves lost to Hamish Peebles

Nik Shah beat Sam Long Dave Simpson beat Jake Clark

Kyle McLoughlin lost to Chris Robinson

Johnston/Nowell beat Jenkins/Rogers

Moynihan/Shah beat Peebles/Long

Simpson/McLoughlin beat Clark/Robinson