Tennis team promoted

A fantastic year for the Shropshire men’s tennis team saw them wrap up a second national promotion after their success in the Summer Cup. Alex Parry’s side, which featured 15-year-old senior debutant Roan Jones, Ed Gibbs, Matt Lee, Luke Henley, Tom Loxley and Sam Chapman, topped their group in the Lawn Tennis Association’s Winter County Cup in Sunderland.

The team’s two youngest players, Jones and Loxley, ensured a flying start on the opening day by winning their matches comfortably. This was duplicated by Parry before the performance of the day against Northumberland was delivered by Gibbs. Lee and Henley also came out on top in their matches. Next up was a clash with Cambridgeshire in which Shropshire were eventually edged out: “It was an extremely close tie that could have gone either way,” explains Parry. “We needed to regroup for our final match… we needed to accumulate as many match wins as possible for a chance of promotion.”

That’s just what Shropshire did as Jones, Loxley and Parry guided them into an early lead, with Gibbs and Lee also victorious, and other results meant Shropshire finished on a high to gain promotion.

Pictured: Shropshire’s men’s team celebrate their promotion; back (l-r) Ed Gibbs, Luke Henley, Sam Chapman, Matt Lee; front (l-r) Tom Loxley, Alex Parry (captain), Roan Jones