MALVERN Girls' College served up some great tennis last week, as pupils competed in the first round of the prestigious Nestl National Schools Championships in Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

The national 19 and under Aberdare and Glanvill Cups began in April, when regional knockout draws were held across 20 areas throughout England, Scotland and Wales.

Four hundred and fifty teams initially took part, and so getting through to the last 48 for the finals, held at Queenswood School, Hatfield, was a real success.

The Malvern Girls' College pupils, Nancy Zhang, Katherine Panton-Kent, Victoria Perrins and Adrienne Lawson competed in a knockout draw, with each match consisting of six rubbers, four singles and two doubles.

Each rubber consisted of two full sets and a deciding ten point match tiebreak if one set all was reached, making for some tense moments during the course of the week-long finals.

Adrienne Lawson secured one win for Malvern, but after five further tense matches, the Malvern girls went out of the event losing 1-5.

The Nestl National Schools Championships are organised by the Lawn Tennis Association.