The Dover and District league has occupied a lot of Herne Bay pairs with matches every week for mens, mixed and ladies teams. The mens A team continued their undefeated form with a 7 sets to 1 win at home to Pfizer A in division 2. The team was Graham Miles/Ian Cooke and Martin Beckley/Jerry Loader. The mens B team had also made a good start to the season in division 4 and continued it with a 5 sets to 3 win away to River B but then suffered 2 defeats away to Sellindge and home to Sandwich. In the River match Gary Smith/Bryan Packham won 3 sets and Bob Toye/Dave Clements won 2. Both Herne Bay mixed teams are in the same division and they played each other during the week. The B team entertained the A team and despite some close sets the A team won 7-1. Dave Clements & Anja Stileman lost 4-6, 4-6 against Eddie Fisher and Sarah Pout and 6-7, 4-6 to Jerry Loader and Sue Toye while Matt Hoffmeister & Christine Hanson lost 2-6, 6-7 to Fisher/Pout and 2-6, 7-6 to Loader/Toye. The mixed A team followed up this win with 2 more against Ash and Canterbury C. In the match at Ash the team was the same except Debbie Holden played with Fisher and the team won 8-0. Then against Canterbury at home Holden and Hanson were the ladies with the men remaining unchanged and they won 7-1 this time. The team are undefeated with 5 out of 8 matches played and are currently top of the league. The mixed B team quickly recovered from the disappointment of the defeat by the A team and drew 4 sets all against Canterbury C at Canterbury. Diana High/Matt Hoffmeister and Debbie Holden/Dave Clements both won 2 sets each. Although the B team are not doing as well as the A team they are still in 3rd place in the division.

The club held its Annual Longest Day Tournament last week in which 12 mixed pairs competed. The pairs were initially divided into 3 groups of 4 and the winners of each group plus the best runners-up progressed to the semi-finals. The groups finished with several players tied on the same number of games and the semi-finalists had to be decide by the toss of a coin in some cases. The 1st semi was Martin Beckley/Liz Harvey against Graham and Dani Miles and the 2nd was between Ian Cooke/Sarah Pout and Debbie Holden/Peter Grimwood. Cooke and Pout won the most games in the 2nd semi and the 1st resulted in a tie with all 4 players winning 4 games. The finalists were decided by a tie-break to 5 points and the Miles’ pair won. In the final Cooke and Dani Miles both won 5 games and were the overall winners.

Herne Bay teams were not as successful In the Kent League. The ladies 2nd team were the only ones to secure a win. They beat Bromley LTC 3 3-1 at home in division 4 to record their 3rd win in 4 matches. Sarah Pout/Denise Parrett won 6-1, 6-3 & 6-1, 6-0 and Christine Hanson/Diana High won 7-6, 6-3 against the opposition 2nd pair and then lost 5-7, 2-6 to their 1sts. The mens 1st team, mens 3rd team and mixed 2nd team all suffered heavy defeats and hope to have better matches in their remaining fixtures.

9am -10am Age 5 – 8 years
10am -11am Age 8 – 11 years
11am -12noon Age 11+

In the Dover and District league the mens A team had 2 games in division 2. The 1st was a win against Hythe B at home without dropping a sets and the 2nd a 4-4 draw away to Canterbury B. The team was Graham Miles/Martin Beckley and Alex Kazakeos/Mark Kennard for both matches. Miles/Beckley have not dropped a set in 4 matches in this excellent start to the season. The mens B team are also unbeaten in their 1st 2 matches in division 4 and in their latest match they beat Sellindge away by 5 sets to 3. Gary Smith/Bryan Packham won 3 of their 4 sets and Bob Toye/Ron Withers won 2 sets. This is the best ever start for the B team since they entered the league 3 years ago. The ladies team also played 2 matches winning one and drawing the other. In their home match against Canterbury they won 6-2 with Christine Hanson/Denise Parrett winning all 4 of their sets and Mary Haldin/Pauline Pierce winning 2. Then in their 2nd match , away to Hythe, Debbie Holden/Parrett won 4 sets but the Bay 2nd pair found the alien grass courts too tricky and were unable to win a set. Mixed A finally played their 1st match in division 2 and started with a 5 sets to 3 win away to Canterbury C. Sarah Pout/Eddie Fisher won 4 sets and Sue Toye/Jerry Loader won 1.

There were just 2 matches in the East Kent league. The mens 1st team beat Margate 2 at home in division 2 4-0. Lionel Hoskins/Nick Wibberley won both their rubbers very easily and Gary Smith/Eddie Fisher won but were taken to championship tie-breaks in both rubbers. The team have now won 3 matches and only dropped one rubber doing so. The mens 2nd team also played a Margate team in division 2 but this time they were defeated by Margate’s 1st team by 4 rubbers to 0. Youngster Dan Walker was making his debut for a Herne Bay senior team in this match and although he was unable to win a set the opposition were very impressed by his performance. Finally there were 2 matches in the Kent midweek league for Herne Bay teams. The ladies travelled to Bearsted to play their 1st team in division 1 and won by 9 games. Anne Gibbs/Sarah Pout won both their rubbers with the loss of just 5 games and despite losing both their rubbers Sue Toye/Christine Hanson won enough games to secure a 2nd win of the season for the team. The mixed veterans team had a home game against Margate and won 3-0. Martin Beckley/Sarah Pout completed both their rubbers winning them in straight sets and Anne Gibbs/Brian Cooper won their 1st rubber very easily but stopped after they won the 1st set against the opposition’s 1st pair on a tie-break because it was raining heavily. The team have now won 3 matches without dropping a rubber.