Lumsden leads Stirling effort to take European title

The 20-year-old, originally from Bearsden, won all of her matches as team lifted the European University Sports Association title with a 2-0 win over the University of Bordeaux in the final in Coimbra.

Maia Lumsden spearheaded Stirling University's Euro triumph (pic by Rob Eyton-Jones)

The victory made up for the disappointment of 12 months ago when Stirling were beaten in the final.

In the best-of-three matches Maia beat opponents from Switzerland, Holland and Turkey as well as teaming up with Natasha Vojcinakova to win a dramatic doubles semi-final decider.

Maia set Stirling on their way with a comprehensive 6-0 6-1 win over Mirjam Gamperli from the Zurich University of Applied Science in the opening match which Stirling then won 2-0.

It was a similar story in the quarter-finals as Maia’s 6-3 6-0 success over Yvette Vlaar (Erasmus University, Rotterdam) was followed by another singles victory by a team-mate to complete a 2-0 win.

But it was a tighter affair in the semi-final against Instanbul Aydin University.

Once more Maia got Stirling off to a winning start by beating Melis Selzer 6-1 6-4, but the Turkish side squared the tie by winning the second singles, meaning Maia had to team up with Natasha Vojcinakova for a doubles decider against Selzer and Cemre Anil.

Things looked good for the Turkish pair when they took the first set 6-1, but Lumsden and Vojcinakova hit back to square the match by taking the second set 6-4.

The match then went to a tiebreak which the Scots pair edged 10-8 to book their place in the final.

Once more Maia set the standard with a hard-fought 7-6 6-4 win over Bordeaux’s Lea Tholey and team-mate Natasha Fourouclas’s 6-4 6-3 win over Rachel Girard in the second singles meant the Stirling celebrations could begin.

The tennis competition was part of a multi-sport European Universities Games which also included basketball, badminton, canoeing, football, futsal, handball, judo, rowing, rugby, table tennis and volleyball.