Boys U14 County Cup 5-7th May (Stage 1) 2012
Following on from last years’ new format (where only 1 County goes through to the next stage or stage 2 from a group of 4 Counties) Bucks were drawn against Somerset, Devon and Kent.
The team selected to play for Bucks were the following Players:
- Barney Smith
- Michael Shaw
- Oscar Glenister
- Jake Williams
- Mark Koniesczy
- Daniel Cornwell
On the first day of the event we were drawn to play against Somerset, (the hosts). Bucks Boys prove to be too strong for the Somerset’s older boys, who although on paper had a similar or lesser rated players compared to our players.
The score were as follows:
No.4 Singles Jake Williams (7.1) beat Tristan Coore (7.2) 6-2 6-3
No.3 Singles Oscar Glenister (6.2) beat James Edwards (7.1) 6-3 6-1
No.2 Singles (6.1) beat Hamish O’Mahoney (7.1) 6-0 6-0
No.1 Singles Michael Shaw (5.2) beat Ben Chandler Payne (7.1) 4-6 6-4 6-4
This was a great start by Bucks and a terrific team performance. A mention must go to Barney Smith in his clinical despatching of his opponent in 35 minutes not allowing him to enter into the match.
The doubles were a mixed bag in terms of results with Oscar and Barney pairing together to win comfortably 6-3 6-2 against Hamish O’Mahoney and Tristan Coore.
Whilst Jake Williams and Mark Koniesczy struggled as a pairing, eventually losing to James Edwards and Tristan Coore 4-6 4-6.
All in all a great start to our campaign!
The 2nd Day having won the previous day, we were then drawn to play the losers of the other match in our group, between Devon and Kent. This match was won convincingly by Kent 6-0 so therefore we had to play Devon.
We knew that having been severely beaten, Devon would want to make amends and this proved to be the case as they put up a spirited performance against us. After the singles rubbers the match was tied at 2-2.
The Scores were:
No 4 Singles Jake Williams (7.1) lost Matyas Metyko (7.1) 2-6 4-6 (showed spirit to come back form 1-4 down in the 2nd set to 4-3 but unable to break)
No3 Singles Oscar Glenister (6.2) beat Archie Dudman (7.1) 6-2 6-1 (solid performance gave away no cheap points!).
No2 Singles Barney Smith (6.1) beat Joel While 6-0 6-1 (another ruthless display!)
No1 Michael Shaw (5.2) lost to Erik Wilson (6.1) 1-6 1-6 (Michael was not himself struggled to maintain his consistency).
As so it went down to the doubles! The boys were ready for the battle and I decided to switch pairing, playing Michael Shaw (show great positive attitude after losing his singles) with County debutant Daniel Cornwell (7.2) the boys played great together, taking control of the net and making solid serves and returns. They beat Matyas Metyo and Alexander Butcher 6-2 6-2.
The other pairing of Oscar Glenister and Barney Smith also played a great match defeating Erik Wilson and Archie Dudman comfortably 6-1 6-2. This was another huge team effort and the players were excited by the prospect of playing Kent on the last day to fight to win the group and qualify for next stage.
Having spoken with the referee and other County Captains it was decided to play the final match singles on day 2 due to the awful predicted weather forecast for the Monday. As we only had 2 indoor courts as back up on the last day. Therefore I had to prepare the team for the toughest test of the weekend... Kent! I made a few changes for this final encounter... introducing another debutant Mark Koniesczy to play the singles. Unfortunately the results did not go our way after the singles. The score were:
No4 Singles Mark Koniesczy (7.1) lost Bailey Robbins (5.2) 2-6 0-6 (opponent too strong in all departments)
No3 Singles Oscar Glenister (6.2) lost Alex Juniper (5.2) 1-6 0-6 (Oscar fought hard and had long rallies but his opponent eventually finished off the point).
No2 Singles Barney Smith (6.1) beat James Davis (5.2) 6-2 6-2 (a very impressive display by Barney who dominant his older opponent psychologically).
No1 Singles Michael Shaw (5.2) lost to Thomas Wright (5.2) 2-6 1-6 (Michael was competitive but Thomas defended brilliantly and was able to turn points around to take the initiative in the rally).
So it came down to the doubles on the last day! If we won both doubles then it would have gone down to a doubles championship tiebreak between any nominated players from the respective teams. Unfortunately this was not the case as Kent dominated both rubbers relatively easily. The results were:
Michael Shaw and Daniel Cornwell lost to James Davis and Bailey Robbins 2-6 0-6 (Kent were very good around the net)
Barney Smith and Oscar Glenister lost Thomas Wright and Liam Van Den Hoek 2-4 0-4 (short sets due to Kent having already won and the long journey back from Taunton. This was a great quality match with points being finished well, from the net.
As a Captain I was tremendously proud of the effort and attitude the boys displayed throughout the long weekend. I look forward to preparing this group of players for next year’s U14 competition.
Team Captain: Phil Hill