BUDMOUTH College sent three players to compete in this year’s Dorset Schools Individual tournament at Portchester School and came away with a silver medal in the girls’ section, as well as seeing two boys reach the quarter-finals.

Fourteen-year-olds Lily and Tom Cherry and 13-year-old Sam Millar (13) all entered the under-16 competition.

Twenty tables were set up for an action-packed day and the Weymouth students were very successful in their first taste of a tournament of this size.

In the girls’ section, Lily scooped a silver medal.

She won three of her matches with scores of 3-0, 3-0 and 3-2 but in the final game Lily lost 3-0 to the eventual champion Daisy Kennard. However, the scoreline of 14-12, 12-10, 14-12 shows just how close this match was.

In the boys’ event, Tom and Sam both came through their qualifying section only losing one match apiece.

Both boys lost to the top player in each group, Sam to the eventual winner Finn Morgan-Bayliss, but they were convincing winners against the remaining players in their groups. In his quarter-final, Tom battled hard against Matt Mills from St Edwards School, losing 11-8, 11-8, 11-7.

All the matches were closely fought, but the excellent serving of the Poole player and some fine forehands saw him progress.

Sam lost his quarter-final against eventual runner-up Jason Lau from Canford School.