Cambridgeshire girls and boys teams had a marvellous day at Batchwood Indoor Tennis Centre on Sunday 17th April finishing joint second overall with Hertfordshire in the Inter County Mini Red Team event for the 8 and under players.
This prestigious team event has been running for several years now. There are 10 Counties in the East Region – Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire Norfolk, Northamptonshire and Suffolk and they are divided into two groups of 5 teams. Each team has 6 girls and 6 boys in it. Within each group each County plays the other 4 Counties and then the top two teams play a semi-final and final.
The girl’s event took place in the morning and the boys in the afternoon. Cambridgeshire girls team consisted of Florence Pritchard-Gordon, Rezi Onibere, Sophie Johnstone, Abi Hope, Marija Bogdane and Mia Jimenez.
The girls were in a group with Oxfordshire, Northants, Berkshire and Essex. Each match consisted of a tiebreak to 10 points and sudden death at 9 points all. Each player played their opposite number from each of the other counties i.e. number 1 played against all the number is and number 2 against all the number 2s.
Cambridgeshire played Oxfordshire first and although the top two girls, Florence and Rezi lost Sophie, Abi, Marija and Mia all won so Cambs won the match 4-2. Next up were Northants and everyone except Abi won so the match score was a 5-1 win to Cambs.
In the third match Cambridgeshire drew 3 all with Berkshire with wins for Sophie, Marija and Mia.
In the final group match Cambridgeshire played a very strong Essex team with only Florence winning at number one.
The team had won enough matches to finish second in the group and then went into the semi-finals where they played Hertfordshire (who had won the other group). This was an extremely close match. Florence lost at number one, then Rezi at two won her match. Sophie at number three won 10-9 but Abi at four lost 7-10. Marija won 10-9 at number five so it was all on the last match. Mia basically needed to win because if it was a draw we were low on points. The match went to the wire and 9 all. Mia won it on a net cord!!!
This meant Cambridgeshire girls were in the final to play Essex again.
After a good team talk the girls came out firing. Florence and Rezi lost at numbers 1 and 2. Sophie then won at number three. Abi lost her match but Marija and Mia both won at five and six. This meant the whole match was tied at three rubbers each but unfortunately Cambridgeshire lost on the count back of points won by two points – Essex had 45 and Cambridgeshire 43.
The girls finished a fantastic second and got the silver medals and special praise for Sophie, Marija and Mia who each won 5 out of their 6 matches.
In the afternoon the boys’ team of Zac Tabaczynski, Reva Onibere, Max Voss, Hugh Hayward, Leo Runciman and Yinghan Ho were in a group with Northants, Berkshire, Essex, and Bedfordshire.
In the first match the team drew 3 all with Northants with good wins for Zac at number 1, Leo at number 5 and Yinghan at number 6.
Next up were Berkshire and then team won 4 matches to 2 with wins for Zac, Max, Hugh and Yinghan,
Cambridgeshire then played a strong Essex team and despite two very close matches which the team lost 9-10 at numbers one and four. The only win came from Leo at number 5 so overall Essex won 5-1.
In the final group match all the team played very well and they all beat their Bedfordshire opponents to record a 6-0 win.
This meant the boys finished second in their group and progressed to the semi-finals where they played the other group winners Buckinghamshire. Again this was a well contested match. Zac won at number one; Reva lost at number two. Max and Hugh both lost at three and four but then Leo and Yinghan won at five and six to tie the match 3-3. Unfortunately on count back of points Bucks had 48 and Cambs 45 so they did not get through to the final.
In the third and fourth playoff they lost 4-2 to Hertfordshire but there were good wins from Zac and Hugh.
Overall the boys came fourth but a special mention to Zac who won 5 out of his 6 matches and the one he lost was 9-10! Leo and Yinghan each won 4 matches.
The combined positions of the girls and boys teams are then added together to give the overall County Winner – which was Essex but Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire were joint second – what a day!!
Sue Rich and Pippa Scotcher were managing the teams and were really proud of how well they all played.