10&U County Cup Team Report written by Luke Digweed (Team Captain)
First up on day 1 we faced the Channel Islands. Gregor Webster quickly dispatch of his opponent followed by Elkan Dillon winning his first singles match. James Oknokwo playing through a left wrist injury showed great fight losing in the match tie-break in the battle of the No.1s. This meant we had to secure a win in the doubles to guarantee the win. James and Elkan duly delivered with some great returning from Elkan and solid volleying from James. Berkshire 3 - 1 Channel Islands The second match vs Essex was a lot tougher with all players having to dig deep. Gregor lead the team with a battling win in his singles match. James and Elkan came out second best in their singles meaning we were down 1-2 with the doubles to play. James and Elkan produce the doubles display of the weekend but it wasn't enough to stop Essex taking the victory 3-1. On Day 2 players arrived for their warm up in good spirits although knowing we couldn't qualify for the national finals but could still finish strongly. Joshua Hills who had waited patiently on Day 1 was ready to take his opportunity as we took on Oxfordshire. Having won the first set his opponent reacted very well to win the second set to bring a deciding match tie-break which Oxfordshire clinched. James had increased his ball speed from Day 1 and took his game to his opponent much more. Having produced his best singles performance of the weekend James fell just short of his opponent on this occasion meaning Oxfordshire led 2-0. Gregor once again produced good quality tennis maintaing his winning streak after some tactical discussions with Captain Luke to pull it back to 2-1 with the doubles to play at the end of the day. Next up were Middlesex, chasing a finals place and always very strong gave all players a fantastic opportunity to gain more experience at this level. After James and Josh lost Gregor battled through again meaning he kept his 100% singles record for the weekend. Middlesex claiming the doubles meant a 3-1 defeat. With the sun still shining and on court temperatures rising Gregor and Josh sealed a third set match tie-break Doubles win against Oxfordshire coming from 9-4 down. This meant the match went to a Tie break doubles shootout with the same four players competing again. Although Berkshire showed some very good serving and net play Oxfordshire stayed cool and secured the victory meaning a 3-2 defeat for Berkshire. WELL DONE to all players and thank you to parents and siblings for your support!
From left to right (in the picture): Joshua Hills, Gregor Webster, James Okonkwo, Elkan Dillon, Luke Digweed (Team Captain)
