18&U Girls:
Pre event we had a few team issues, our no.1 player, Dominic Covington, playing in an ITF event in Norway, no.2 player, Brigit Folland, possibly going to South Africa for an ITF event and no.3 player, Katie Swan, playing an ETA event in Holland all of whom would be available to play for the County if they didn't make the final stages of their tournaments - would we have a team?!
The first great news for the team was Brigit was not travelling to South Africa and was available for the whole event, therefore we would be able to travel with 6 players and fulfil all the matches. Whilst on the bus journey we received another boost for the team confirming that Katie was to fly in to Liverpool airport the morning of the first match against Nottinghamshire - wow the luxury of 7 players!
Day 1 v Nottinghamshire; following the captains meeting we were told that the matches were to be played on 3 courts as opposed to the normal 2 courts which posed a problem as the matches would go quicker and we had to pick Katie up from the airport, we were still confident that it would be possible as Katie was due to play at no.2 spot. We leave to pick Katie up at the early stages of the first matches, unfortunately after close 1st sets Broadie Walker and Anna Peacock lose the 2nd sets 6-1 and our no.2 player is due on! Sarah tried her best to delay the the match start but the Notts team captain pressed for the walkover (Katie being only 20 minutes away), this we felt was not in the spirit of the event and also meant that Katie was not allowed to play in the doubles that day.
Still confident that we could win the tie, Hayley James was playing great at a set and 4-1 up, but unfortunately ended up losing a close fought 3rd set, so Avon are now 4-0 down. Laura Sainsbury was involved in a close 3 set battle which didn't go her way, Avon are now 5-0 down. Up next was Brigit who comfortably won the no.1 singles, now Avon must get as many of the doubles matches as possible - great effort from the girls winning 2 of the 3 doubles matches especially to Lizzie Burton who stepped at no.1 doubles pair and won comfortably with Brigit and a 6-3 loss was not too bad considering earlier events.
Day 2 v Cheshire; Cheshire had beaten South Wales 7-2 on day 1 and would be a tough opponent. Avon had another great effort from Lizzie winning at no.6 in the 3 sets (even serve & volleying on some points!). Hayley James at no.5 and Anna at no.4 came up against tough opponents so our score would stand at 2-1 Cheshire. After 1st round of singles, up steps Laura, Katie and Brigit at 3, 2 & 1 respectively and they all played great and won in straight sets, 4-2 to Avon and looking good to win the match. Broadie replaced Anna in the 3rd pair doubles pairing up with Lizzie who lost a close 2 set match, 4-3 Avon. Playing some superb doubles Hayley and Laura eventually lose in a Tie-break 3rd set, 4-4! Brigit & Katie are on court in the deciding match and take it in 2 tight sets 7/6, 6/4 a great effort from the girls who showed great composure in a pressure match - AVON WIN 5-4.
Day 3 v South Wales; They had lost on day 2, 9-0 to Notts so we were confident that we would win this match especially given that Dominic Covington had returned from Norway on the Saturday afternoon, driven to Bristol from Heathrow and then very kindly driven up to The Wirral by her parents on the Saturday night - great effort Covingtons! The team lost Hayley on the Saturday night due to her having to play an important football match on the Sunday in Bristol.
We felt that we were in with a chance of promotion if we could win 9-0 today and if results went our way in the other match.
Lizzie at no.6 played a great first set but ended up losing in 3 sets, Anna at no.5 was holding a shoulder injury which got the better of her and was unable to produce her best tennis losing in straight sets - 'Pain is the weakness leaving the body' - quote that the girls will understand!!!!!! So Avon found themselves 2-0 down after the first 2 matches. Up steps the big guns of Laura, Katie, Brigit and Dominic all winning their singles with the loss of a mere 9 games between them - great playing girls. Avon now 4-2 up and now are guaranteed to stay in the division, the girls then go on and win with pride all the 3 remaining doubles matches to win the match 7-2.
Nottinghamshire won the division on a match count back from Cheshire and Avon as all teams won 2 out of 3 matches each - and left us wondering about the Captains decision on the first day!
The team had the best team spirit that we could possibly wish for as team captains and they were all a credit to Avon, special thanks to them all and the commitment to make the event. Team player for the weekend is very difficult to call but went to Brigit Folland who played every match and won every match without dropping a set - well done Brigit.
Role on next year with the same team!
18&U Boys:
Day one East of Scotland:
A great start with Josh Kashdan and William Bannister winning at positions 6 and 5; the rest of the day wasn’t so good as we lost the remaining 7 matches.
Day two Derbyshire:
Chris Clayton was rested due to injury, Ed Hardiman was promoted to number 3 winning a three setter and Julian Page won in the top spot. We didn’t complete the doubles due to the results not affecting the match score.
Day three Durham and Cleveland: (relegation battle)
A shaky start to the day after Rob Gibbs won his match but Josh Kashdan lost in a tight three set match, which left us one all after the first round. William Bannister, on the other hand, came back from a break down in the third set to win, followed by a comfortable win for Ed Hardiman; this meant we only needed two more victories to stay in division 4. The tie was wrapped up by a stunning win for Chris Clayton and a cruising win for Julian Page.
A great weekend was had by all, and the team captains would like to thank all the boys for their hard work, effort and company over the three and a half days. They were a credit to the Avon County.
Team:
Julian Page, Chris Clayton, Ed Hardiman, Finn Bedwell, William Bannister, Josh Kashdan, Keiran Hawkins, Robert Gibbs