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Photos: Nicole Sorlie
Sam Davies and Steve LeCornu showed a class and superiority on court on Saturday entirely befitting of the entire men’s first team.
The match’s opening game began with a first glimpse of LeCornu’s sledgehammer service which, despite some nervous early moments, the men’s first pair managed to hold.
Their Lancastrian opponents showed what, with hindsight, was a surprising degree of comfort when they managed to hold their opening service game; a feat that they would struggle to replicate for the remainder of the match.
The first break of the set came following a nervy service game from Lancaster. York’s dominance then started to become more and more apparent with a comfortable hold and a second break of the set to follow.
With just the simple task of serving out the set, spectators may have been forgiven if they had lost focus on the game.
A seemingly innocuous point produced a moment of near brilliance from LeCornu. Running towards the baseline and facing away from the net he connected with the ball, striking it from between his legs.
The ‘Tweener’ or ‘Hot-Dog’, a favourite trick shot of Roger Federer, glided beautifully over the net to land… just wide. This one moment encapsulated the mixture of both determination and technique that, in the end, led York to a deserved victory.
After taking the first set 6-1, Lancaster were bowled over by a Davies and LeCornu tour de force in the second.
Breaking their lacklustre opponents’ opening service game, there was no way back. A further 2 breaks of serve saw York’s first pair run out easy and deserved winners, the score ending 6-1 6-0.
After the match, captain Sam Davies was coerced into commenting that he and his partner had “served them a beating.”
Despite the soundbite, Davies and LeCornu provided the perfect example to the rest of the men’s 1sts who, following disappointment in the final match of the men’s second team, managed to run out clear winners before their singles games.
Four important points helped the York Roses tally, but there were surely no more emphatic victories this weekend.
York: Sam Davies (c), Steve LeCornu, Nils Morozs, Billy Ellison, Niels Althrus, Jules Delay.