FOUR Totally Tennis players have helped their college to victory in the regional British Schools team competition.

Queen Mary's College students Chris Munt, Gavin Lancashire, Lindsay Beavers and Abigail Price, along with team-mates Mark Swinscoe and Steve Brown, have won the boys' and mixed team events for Hampshire and Dorset.

Munt, Lancashire and Beavers were junior players at Totally Tennis since primary school, coming through the performance programme.

Munt, Beavers and Price shared in the successful Totally Tennis programme at Brighton Hill Community College.

The mixed team will now go on to represent the region at the first national finals at the Bolton Arena on April 18 and April 19.

A grand final on the second afternoon will be followed by the presentation ceremony.

Next year, it is hoped the boys' and girls' county leagues will also be taken to national finals, which will be funded by increased sponsorship from Nestl.

The competition consisted of boys', girls' and mixed leagues within each county.

Teams of four play in round-robin matches in the autumn and spring term.

In the boys' and girls' leagues, matches consist of four singles and two doubles while mixed league matches are doubles only, each pair playing two rubbers of one set each.

All four boys competed in the boy's team event, playing a singles match each and two doubles matches.

In the mixed event, Swinscoe played with Beavers and Munt competed with Price, both teams playing two doubles matches.

The British Schools Tennis Association (BSTA) was established in conjunction with the Lawn Tennis Association to give children the opportunity to play competitive tennis in their local area.

The mixed event for senior students was introduced two years ago and has proved a popular addition to the BSTA competitions. Seventy teams entered from all over Britain in the current season.

Entry to the competitions is included in BSTA membership, along with entry into a ticket ballot for Wimbledon and monthly copies of the tennis magazine, Ace.

Sarah Goldson, the PE teacher at QMC responsible for tennis, said: "I am really pleased with how both teams played.

"In the men's league, the team played really fantastic tennis, particularly when they defeated Bournemouth School, whom they narrowly lost to last year.

"There were some notable performances, particularly in the singles matches, and I would like to congratulate everyone involved."

The QMC tennis team train every Monday lunchtime with Goldson at Totally Tennis' indoor centre.