With more than 25 ladies representing Writhlington Adult Ladies this year, age range 16 yrs to 65 years, the teams have performed with incredible commitment and produced three great promotions for the newly appointed Ladies Co Ordinator - Sarah Dawe. Replacing Tracey Stephens after her 7 years of running the teams, Sarah had a hard act to follow. But in true Writhlington form she cajoled, persuaded and supported the ladies and with Tracey’s guidance between them they have pulled off an incredible performance this year.
The last two matches were as follows :
Writhlington Ladies I v Knowle III at home win 8-2
Mandy Baldwin and Francesca Beg took on their A pairing of Bridget and Louise and took longer than usual to demolish them 6-1 6-0, their B pairing of Frankie and Trish were really weak in comparison to the A pair of Knowle and Mandy and Francesca did not hang about when beating them 6-0 6-1.
Sarah Dawe and Alex Hull took on their B pairing and controlled the game from the start with good volleying and deep ground shots to force the errors so there was only a couple of times when they rallied for more than 4 shots including the serve! They usually left a huge gap in the middle which Alex and Sarah exploited repeatedly. Easy win 6-1 6-2.
They then took on their A pairing who we had previously beaten at Knowle, but they had stepped up their game this time around. We matched games until 5-5 and then seemed to lose our way and lost the first set 7-5. We then rallied and began to attack each point rushing the net and this seemed to put them off greatly and we matched them for the first couple of games, but then struggled with our momentum and lost the next four games in succession, although going to deuce in most games we couldn't convert into games and lost our attacking game to lose the rubber 7-5 6-2.
Being top of their division with 94 points out of a possible 100, the Ladies 1st team have guaranteed promotion with an excellent display of commitment by sisters Sarah & Mandy Baldwin playing every one of the 10 match season.
Writhlington Ladies III v Saltford II at Home win 8-2
Louise Derrick and Tina Lindley took in their first pairing and cruised through for an easy first rubber win (and the double donut) 6-0 6-0!
Their second rubber proved only slightly more taxing, with some great running from both Tina and Louise, some controlled volleys and good deep shots meant the opposition didn't really get into the game, winning 6-1 6-1.
Sharon Bradbury and Alison John (first league match ever) took on the other pairing and started really well and matched game for game until they went down in the first set 4-6, a strong comeback in the second set winning them the set at 7-5 meant a championship tie break for the third which unfortunately they couldn't quite complete so went down 1-0.
Second rubber against the other Saltford pairing saw some great intercepts and Alison reacting brilliantly at the net. Sharon achieved some amazing angles which left the opposition rather confused and tiring in the heat. They kept up the pressure and cruised to 6-1 6-3 win. Well done ladies. This meant that the Ladies 3rd team gained promotion needing the 8 points gained to be top of their division.
Writhlington Ladies II
Writhlington II did not have a game in the last week and had to wait to see how the other teams in their division performed, so it was with great satisfaction that Sarah Dawe discovered within 24 hours of the last match being played that enough points had been gathered over the 10 week season to confirm promotion had been gained by the second team as well.
