FOLLOWING on from their success in the British Colleges south region competition, the Queen Mary's College boys' team are celebrating again.

Their latest triumph was beating Henley College and Windsor Boys in the first two matches of this year's British Schools Tennis Association (BSTA) Senior Students compet-ition.

James McIntosh, Matthew Church, Matthew Gibbons and Sam Randall, three of whom are Totally Tennis players, won their latest tie recently at Totally Tennis' indoor centre to progress to the next stage of the competition - the regional knock-outs in February.

Each tie is made up of four singles matches and two doubles.

In the singles, Totally Tennis performance players McIntosh and Gibbons won their matches 6-3 and 6-2 respectively, with McIntosh playing some very aggressive tennis with some excellent backhand shots.

Church showed good defensive skills against a tough opponent and his court coverage was superb. But, despite his best efforts, the final result went against QMC 6-2.

In the fourth match, despite leading 4-1 at one stage, Randall was overcome 7-5.

Continuing his all-conquering form, Gibbons partnered Randall to a 6-2 doubles win.

The pairing of McIntosh and Church lost narrowly 7-5, but the overall score was drawn at 3-3. The final outcome was decided by the number of games won and QMC edged the result by three games.

The QMC girls' team also secured a victory against Henley College in their first match in the BSTA women's competition.

The Senior Students competition has boys', girls' and mixed leagues, based on geograph-ical counties.

Teams of four play in round-robin events in the autumn and spring terms. The girls' matches - like the boys' - consist of four singles and two doubles rubbers, which are all of one set.

Mixed league matches are doubles only, with each pair playing two rubbers.

QMC are hoping to repeat their success of recent years, with both the boys' and mixed teams winning events in the county stage of the competition.

Increased sponsorship from Nestl now means that the boys' and girls' events join the mixed events in progressing to a national final.

QMC PE teacher Sarah Goldson said: "It's been a great couple of weeks for the QMC tennis teams. James' singles match against Windsor Boys featured some of the best tennis I have ever seen him play."

The British Schools Tennis Association was established in association with the Lawn Tennis Association to give children up to college age the opportunity to play compet-itive tennis in their local area.

The mixed event for senior students was introduced only two years ago and has proved a popular addition to the BSTA calendar. Last year, 70 teams entered from all over the country.

The QMC tennis team train every Wednesday during term time with Goldson at the Totally Tennis indoor centre.