Congratulations to our Surrey 18U Girls for Winning the County Cup Group 2B at Southampton over the weekend. Promotion to Group 1 secured!!
Girls 18U County Cup Team
Lana Rush, Darinka Tiboldi, Jodie Burrage, Melanie Vaxevanakis, Bethan Hayward, Emily Appleton, Jodie Lawrence-Taylor, Hannah Ferrett, Gemma Heath
Team Manager: Matt Thomas
Team Captain: Lerissa Graham
County Cup Report from Matt Thomas
Day 1
We met at the NTC on Thursday and begun our county cup journey to Southampton. 45 minutes had passed and the team were already asking if we were near and demanding food!! We arrived at David Lloyd Southampton at 3pm and got a good 2 hours on the court which allowed us to get to grips with the court surface and get some practice sets in.
That evening we went to Prezzo Italian restaurant in Romsey and needless to say the team ate very well with Emily ‘apples’ Appleton literally speechless by the quality of her margarita and bacon pizza…the words ‘best pizza ever’ spring to mind. As we knew the week was going to be long we decided to retire back to the hotel to get a good evenings sleep.
Day 2
We met for breakfast at 7.30 and enjoyed the finest selection of breakfast the beefeater had to offer. Matt drove us to the tennis centre for 815 and we got a good 45 minutes practice on court in preparation for our first challenge in Staffordshire. Hannah Ferrett and Jodie Annie Lawrence-Taylor got the team off to a fantastic 2-0 lead with convincing singles wins. These results filled the team with confidence and Darinka, Emily, Jodie Burrage and Lana all recorded wins giving the team a comfortable 6-0 lead. The new partnership of Gemma and Beth performed exceedingly well in giving Surrey their seventh rubber of the day and the pairings of Jodie and Emily and Lana and Mel secured wins ensuring the team defeated Staffordshire 9-0.
Matt refused to take the team to the same restaurant for two days running so the team voted to go to a Chinese restaurant. This was a new experience for most and some even took it upon themselves to have tutorials on how to use their chop sticks….needless to say no one used them to eat their food!!! The team voted for Jodie Burrage as the player of the day and moment of the day went to Beth for her forehand volley winner which bounced back over to her side of the net with all the backspin she generated!!!
Day 3
Again we met at 730 for breakfast and got to the courts at 815 to prepare for Hertfordshire which we knew was going to be a big test. Herts were strong at 5 and 6 but Jodie Annie got a crucial win meaning the tie went to 1-1. We went to 2-1 down but Emily performed excellently to win a crucial singles which the momentum back to Surrey and Jodie and Lana continued in fine fashion scoring convincing wins. We entered the doubles 4-2 up knowing one win would the match for us. The same doubles pairs were picked and we won all three ensuring we defeated Herts 7-2.
Matt and Lerissa decided the team deserved a treat after a well fought win and took the team back to Prezzo much to the delight of Darinka, Emily and Jodie. It was good to see most girls chose different meals apart from Emily who re ordered ‘the best pizza ever’ although it was the last meal to arrive and we could see the frustration building on her face thinking it wasn’t coming!! Player of the day went to Jodie Annie for another ruthless display and moment of the day to Lana and Mel for their celebration on matchpoint!!!
Day 4
We entered day 4 knowing that a win would take us back to Division 1. Matt selected a different team based on matching up players to compete against Hampshire. Gemma and Mel were selected to play at 5 and 6 and both started well winning the first sets. Both matches took in excess of 2 hours and were both too close to call. Eventually Mel won in straight sets with an awesome backhand line winner and special mention to Gemma who won in a third set tie break 7-5 winning with a courageous forehand volley. Jodie Annie, Emily and Jodie all won convincingly and Lana rush showed great fight in pulling through in 3 close sets. The team took another 6-0 but continued in their relentless push for promotion by winning all 3 doubles matches ensuring we defeated Hampshire 9-0.
Player of the day went to Gemma Heath for winning her debut singles match and getting the team off to a great start. Moment of the day has to go to the rapturous applause from the balcony when Mel struck the backhand down the line on match point in her very last county cup for Surrey.
We were presented with their medals and secured our promotion to division 1 in Bath next year. It was a great team with every player contributing significantly to the team’s success.
We believe we have built something special this weekend and more significantly the team bonded extremely well and had a lot of fun. Let’s build on this and prove Surrey is the team to beat in division 1 for the years to come!!!!!!!!
Go Surrey!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please click on the following link for full match details!
http://lta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=121EA03D-D380-4C8E-92C7-FB2CDA3CA9D3&draw=1