The Columba College Tennis Team has had a very successful sporting year in 2021.

With multiple teams, both social to competitive, tennis is a really easy and fun way to get involved in summer sports at Columba. This year we had a total of 11 social teams and 4 competitive teams competing in the weekly Thursday competitions.

All of the girls had great attitudes and showed great improvement across the season.

One of the notable achievements, in the weekly matches, was the dynamic duo of Nora Paicu and Lily Dawson, who placed second in the competitive division in Term One.

The highly anticipated Otago Tennis Champs were held early on in the year at Logan Park Tennis Courts. Columba College was represented by our two top teams of Erin O’Neill and Nora Paicu and Phoebe O’Donnell and Bethany Nicholson. It was a blistering hot day in Dunedin, and the wind started to pick up as the day went on which meant that the girls had to play a very technical game, battling both the high level of competition and the elements. The girls definitely left it all out on the court. Erin and Nora placed an impressive 4th place, narrowly losing in the semi-final, whilst Beth and Phoebe went on to the finals to gain an outstanding 2nd place overall! All of the girls played some quality tennis and should be very proud of their efforts.

In April, Phoebe O’Donnell went on to play in the South Island Tennis Champs in Timaru, in a combined Columba-Mt Aspiring team, where she came up against top teams like St Margarets and St Andrews of Canterbury. Despite the tough competition, the Columba-Mt Aspiring team had some great rallies and came away with some commendable wins, not to mention some very painful looking sunburn! So, a note to all tennis players: slip, slop, slap on that sunscreen! On a positive note, the tournament proved to be a great experience, offering the opportunity to take on some new and highly competitive teams.

Over the season, despite the impacts of COVID, many of the Columba Tennis Team were still able to participate in games and tournaments. The girls have really enjoyed having the opportunity to play for Columba and improve their skills. We look forward to seeing more and more students get involved in Columba tennis in the future!

Ms Hiller - Teacher in Charge

Gemma O’Donnell - Tennis Captain 2021