WINTER COUNTY CUP - LADIES DIV 2A
EASTON COLLEGE TENNIS CENTRE, NORWICH
FRI 25 – SUN 27 NOV 2011
HELEN ADAMS
CELIA CORNFORTH (né Bristow)
CLAIRE HAMILTON
JEMIMA HAYWARD
ALISON LONGFIELD (né Chitty - captain)
CLAUDIA MARSALA
ALICE PATCH
TOR PISANI
After agreeing we were playing in Norwich rather than Ipswich, the Bucks team made their way along dark and busy roads to arrive in Norwich on the Thursday evening. An hour’s practice was followed by a filling Beefeater dinner and an early night…
Six singles followed by three doubles is still the format…one county takes the group, two counties stay, and one goes down.
FRI v NORTHUMBERLAND
Off we go… We had two new arrivals to the team in Tor Pisani (16) and Alice Patch (15). Playing at no’s 5 and 6 respectively they showed no nerves, both securing victory within an hour to get the weekend off to a great start. Helen Adams then had a tight battle at no 4, before Claudia got her money’s worth winning a three-set marathon at no 3. That left Celia & Jemima with tough matches against higher ranked opponents. The matches didn’t go our way, leaving us locked at 3-3 at the end of the singles. Doubles here we come!
Helen & Tor went straight on and played very well to win 6-3, 6-2, but Jemima & Claudia were unfortunately outgunned at no 1 doubles. This left the match score at 4 rubbers apiece. Still on court were Alison & Celia at no 2 doubles, using all their guile and touch to raise the oldies’ profile! With everyone watching and willing their sides on, Bucks managed to clinch the third-set championship tiebreak 10-8 to secure a 5-4 win and leave the team in a positive mood for Day 2.
SAT v WARWICKSHIRE
Tor and Alice continued their winning ways with two straight set victories to get the day underway. Helen then took to the court, battling against Emily Smith in a 2hr match that so nearly went Bucks’ way, succumbing eventually 4-6 in the third. A solid performance. Claire, our late arrival for the w/e and Claudia, playing at no’s 2 and 3 respectively, tried to take their matches, but a jarred ankle from an on court tumble and strong opposition meant Bucks were soon 3-2 down. Jemima stepped up valiantly to try and collect a third precious point but another marathon singles later and a 5-7 third set loss saw us needing to take all three doubles.
Alison teamed up with Claire and they took their match 6-2, 7-5. Celia & Claudia then tried their hardest against a strong Warwickshire pair but were eventually worn down. That left Jemima & Tor at no 1 doubles, coming from a set down to win the 2nd 7-5 and smash the ensuing championship tiebreak 10-1. Awesome! The end result though was a very close 4-5 loss. Everything to play for on Sunday…..
SUN v CAMBRIDGESHIRE
All 4 teams started the day on 1 win each, so any result was possible…All matches had to be played out as every rubber, set and game would be counted back. Very tight!
Alice and Tor again started us off and after 2hrs and tight topsy turvey matches, Tor lost agonisingly on a 3rd set tiebreak, Alice battled to a 3 set win. Helen, at no 4, then played superbly to take her first singles win of the weekend but unfortunately Claudia had a narrow 3 set loss at no 3. Celia and Jemima both lost to higher ranked opponents, leaving us 2-4 down after the singles.
Alice then stood up for her 1st doubles of the weekend. Playing with Celia, the combination of youth and experience saw another doubles win for Bucks and a four out of four played / win ratio for Alice. A 100% stat for her 1st ever Winter CC - pretty impressive! Claire’s ankle was still giving her trouble, so Helen stepped in to play no 2 doubles with Alison. Despite getting to a 2nd set tiebreak, they couldn’t win, which left the last match on court – Tor & Jemima v Victoria Nicholas & Sophie Watts the match to decide the whole weekend! With everyone watching, a win for Cambridgeshire meant they would go up to Group 1, whilst a win for Bucks would mean Warwickshire would take the spoils. Bucks by then had enough rubbers in the bag to stay in Group 2. Eventually, with some great tennis being played, Bucks came through 10-8 on the championship tiebreak. Superb to watch! Bucks lost overall 4-5 on the day but an incredible weekend. Well worth the long trip!
Final Result
1.WARWICKSHIRE
2. CAMBRIDGESHIRE
3. BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
4. NORTHUMBERLAND
A great team effort and team spirit…
Alison Longfield