Six girls and six boys represented Cambridgeshire in the Inter County Mini Red Team event at Gosling Tennis Centre, Hertfordshire on Sunday 17th February. Each team had their players in an order of 1 through to 6 and they each played against their opposite number from each of the other 7 counties competing in the event.
The girls team of Sophie Price, Alexandra Pitchford, Sammy Borcoski, Eloise Borcoski, Sarah Thomas and Sophie Tjurina played in the morning against teams from Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Each match consisted of a tiebreak to 10 points with sudden death at 9 points all.
The girls started against Northamptonshire and won the match by 5 rubbers to 1 to get the County off to a good start. Next up were Buckinghamshire and the girls narrowly lost by 4 rubbers to 2 with one of the losses on a sudden death 9 all point! They then drew 3 rubbers all with Essex; drew 3 all with Suffolk; drew 3 all with Norfolk; lost to a strong Herts team 1-5 and finally drew 3 all with Bedfordshire.
Overall the girls came fifth which was a great effort as 4 of the 6 players were very inexperienced at this level. Pride of place goes to Alexandra Pitchford, Sarah Thomas and six year old Sophie Tjurina who each won 5 out of their 7 matches but it was a great team effort.In the afternoon it was the turn of the boys’ team to compete. Cambridgeshire were represented by Yujiro Onuma, Felix Dean, Charlie Adams, Dougie McKee, Ted Hope and Lucas Summers.
First up again were Northamptonshire and the boys were really up for the event and everyone won easily to get Cambridgeshire off to a 6 rubbers to 0 win. Next up were Buckinghamshire which was a much closer match but Cambridgeshire came through winning 4 rubbers to 2 with wins for Yujiro, Felix, Dougie and Ted. Essex proved to be tough opposition in the third match but again Cambridgeshire pulled through with a 4 rubbers to 2 win with wins from Felix, Charlie, Dougie, and Lucas. Charlie and Dougie came back and both won on the sudden death point 10/9!
Suffolk provided the next opposition and in this match the boys drew 3 rubbers each. With wins from Felix, Dougie and Ted to keep alive the hopes of finishing in the medals. Against Norfolk the boys took a 4 rubbers to 0 lead but then lost the bottom two matches to finish 4 -2 winners.
The match against Hertfordshire looked as if it was going to be Cambridgeshire’s downfall as the top two players Yujiro and Felix both lost but the rest of the team rallied round with excellent wins from Charlie Adams and Dougie McKee both 10/9 and Ted Hope and Lucas Summers.
The last match was against Bedfordshire and the team all played well and finished with a 5 rubbers to 1 victory. Cambridgeshire boys had the same number of wins as Suffolk with whom they drew but on the count back Suffolk had 2 more rubbers and so took top place with Cambridgeshire boys finishing second and receiving the silver medals. A special mention for Dougie who won all 7 of his matches!
The final positions of both the girls and boys were then added together to give an overall County Order. Suffolk came first, followed by Herts and the Cambridgeshire and Essex were tied third.
Captain Sue Rich said ‘ It was an excellent team effort by all the players and the boys in particular played some exciting tennis which gives hopes of a bright future for Cambridgeshire’