U12 Girls County Qualifying at Windsor
Saturday 25th and Sunday 27th June 2016
Match 1 – Buckinghamshire v Oxfordshire 1-3
Match 2 – Buckinghamshire v Middlesex 1-3
Had my Captains meeting before play and told the girls there was wifi, never seen the phones come out so fast!!!
Unfortunately, the weather was against us on the first day so we did not go on to play until 12noon.
Match 1
Darcey went on to play first and started really well winning the first 2 games, but was not able to sustain her level, hit a few unforced errors and lost her confidence and lost the 1st set. Lost the first 3 games of the 2nd, but did recover to win the 4th game but was not able to sustain it and then lost the set and match. Bethan worked really hard in the 1st set and competed really well and then lost her rhythm on her serve and too many double faults started to creep in, lost her confidence and then lost the 2nd set as well. Due to the rain Natalie played her match inside and played a great match, managed her unforced errors very well and kept her confidence high, played some great points, constructed very well and a couple of great drop shots winning her match 4-2, 4-1. Bethan and Natalie played a great 1st set before losing 4-7 in the tiebreak, but could not sustain their level and lost the 2nd set.
Match 2
Bethan had a tough 1st set and never got going, too many unforced errors. Worked really hard in the 2nd but just could not get a foot hold in the match and eventually lost the 2nd set as well. Natalie could not quite reach the level she played in her 1st match, but tried very hard to compete for every ball before losing her match. Darcey also had a very tough match, but her opponent did not miss very much from anywhere on the court and unfortunately lost her match in 2 sets. Bethan and Natalie played a brilliant doubles match, made very few unforced errors and went onto win this in 2sets. 4-2, 4-1.
Match 1 – Buckinghamshire v Essex 0-4
Day 2 we were in a playoff for 5th & 6th place and had a real chance of finishing 5th. Amelia went onto play first and played a brilliant 1st set with very few unforced errors, winning this 4-1, then too many unforced errors started to creep in, lost her confidence and too many shots from the back were too short and lost the 2nd set, so into the tiebreak, never recovered from losing the 2nd set and eventually lost a hard fought tiebreak 3-10. Natalie played a brilliant 1st set and won this comfortably. The 1st game of the 2nd set went on for over 5mins and unfortunately Natalie lost this and this affected her confidence and she never recovered losing the 2nd set 1-4. Into the tiebreak, having gone down 3-9, Natalie played the next 3 points with no fear and managed to get back to 6-9 before losing a hard fought point to go down 6-10 in the tiebreak. Bethan then lost the 1st set of her match very quickly, with too many unforced errors. Started the 2nd set much better and cut out her unforced errors to win the 2nd set 4-2, so into another tiebreak. Went down 2-4 in the tiebreak and never managed to sustain the level of the 2nd set before losing 3-10. Bethan and Natalie played a very closing fought match going down in 2 tiebreak sets 4-5(3-7), 4-5 (4-7).
I would like to thank all the team for their great effort and support over the weekend and for supporting each other during their matches. Also a big thank you to all the parents for their support over the 2 days. It was not our weekend but I cannot fault Bethan, Natalie, Darcey and Amelia for all their hard work.
Caroline Care
U12 County Captain