QUEEN Mary’s College boys’ A team made a strong start to their Senior Students campaign as they beat Bedales School from Petersfield 10-2 at Hampshire Court, in Chineham.

The team was made up of Totally Tennis performance players Loic Armstrong, Ali Olrog, Nick Dingwall and Adam Hood and they were competing for the college in the first round of this year’s competition.

In the singles, Armstrong (6-1), Dingwall (6-0) and Olrog (6-1) all won their games, while Hood lost a close match 7-5.

This gave the team a 6-2 advantage going in the doubles. Queen Mary’s won both matches, with Armstrong/Hood winning 6-3 and Olrog/Dingwall cruising to a 6-0 victory.

PE teacher and tennis team manager Sarah Goldson said: “It was a great start for the team, who have won the group stages in this competition for the last four years.

“We are looking forward to the next match after the half-term break.”

The Senior Students competition is an annual tennis tournament to encourage players in Years 11 to 13 to play competitive tennis and provides teams with an opportunity to compete in a national final.

The local league matches are played from October to December and the winners progress through to the knock-out rounds from January, with finals taking place next year at Bolton Arena from March 14 to 16.

QMC are in Group FF alongside Rikkyo School A, Meoncross School and Bedales.

The college’s B team are in Group KK against teams from Langley Grammar School, Bradfield College B and the Windsor Boys’ School.