The Men’s 1st team secured promotion into the top division for next seasons Hertfordshire Men’s Summer Doubles league after beating Northaw & Cuffley 5-4 in what was a very tight match. The team consisting of Dave Reed, Pete Stewart, Josh Cormack, Richard Johnson, George Rowe and Pete Harris were tied 3 all going into the final round of matches. A solid performance from Dave Reed and Pete Stewart saw them beat their number 2 seeds 6-2 6-3 and draw the tie all square after Johnson and Cormack lost 6-0 6-1. This left it down to Pete Harris and George Rowe to win to secure the title, which they managed to achieve in a very nervy match edging it 7-5 6-4 to clinch the title and ensure promotion.
The team played a total of 6 matches throughout the season only losing to Elliswick 5-4 in the very first match of the season. After that they went from strength to strength beating Barnet 7-2, Brookmans Park 9-0, Berkhamstead 9-0 and Sawbridgeworth 9-0. Bishop’s Stortford had 4 players in the top 5 rankings for the league with Josh Cormack topping the league stats and Dave Reed, Pete Harris and Jonas Eneberg making it into the top 5.
Team captain Pete Harris said “it has been a really pleasing season especially after coming so close to promotion last year, the club has continued to develop over the past few years and I’m delighted that we’ve been able to produce juniors that have come in to the men’s teams at all levels across the club. It’ll be a tough test for us next year in the top division but certainly one that the team and myself are looking forward to as when we were last there I don’t feel that we did ourselves justice”.