in BUCS:
Sheffield Men’s First tennis team drew 6-6 with York’s firsts in an edgy agonising draw last Wednesday.
Twice Sheffield University took the lead but on both occasions York charged back to nick a point.
The tie at the Hallamshire Tennis and Squash Centre was moved from Graves Leisure Centre so the four players on both sides had to play outside on astro.
Cold and windy conditions were prevalent throughout the afternoon, but did not put off Joe Tingey and Max Heath early on as they triumphed in their three sets doubles match 6-2 3-6 10-2.
That early 2-0 lead was wiped out when captain Tom Dyakowski and Vilis Vitolis lost their doubles rubber 7-6 6-2, after they were 6-2 up in the first set tiebreak.
Before the tie Sheffield were four places above York in the table; the away side had not even won a point.
But when Heath lost his singles 6-1 6-2 against a very hard flat hitting opponent, the home side found themselves 4-2 down.
Up stepped Dyakowski and Tingey to rescue the situation, the former winning 6-3 6-4 and the latter 6-1 6-3
A tense contest neared its end, Vitolis the person to decide whether Sheffield would win 8-4 or draw 6-6. In agonising fashion, against an opponent with a stunning defensive game, Vitolis fell to a 7-5 6-4 defeat late in the afternoon.
Sheffield captain Dyakowski said: “It’s tough, we expected to win the match and really hoped we would have done but being a change of scenery and obviously playing outdoors, when we were used to playing indoors, didn’t help. It’s hard but losing a couple of tight matches is a shame.
“It’s going to be much more difficult now. I don’t think Durham will draw against York but we’ve got a lot more matches to play, a lot more tough teams to play and there’s a lot more results which could be shocking results.
“I think there was a bit of everything. I think the first pair of doubles, Vilis and I, we were leading quite comfortable and let it slip. We hadn’t played doubles indoors. And then in Vilis’ match, playing indoors on a quicker surface I think he would have almost certainly won. So, there were a number of factors but at the end of the day it was 6-6 and we were just disappointed with the result.
