12 Counties U14 held at Corby Tennis Centre - Sunday 18th January
Boys
A Cambridgeshire team of Alex Wardley, Vincent Chen, Derrick Chen and Sam Clark were grouped against Norfolk, Northamptonshire and Oxford in the Under 14 12 Counties 2A group. Up first was Northamptonshire and all of the Cambs boys got through their matches comfortably, winning the tie 4 matches to 0. With a short sets format, Alex Wardley at 1 beat Max Graham 4-1, 4-1, Vincent Chen at 2 beat Alexander Ballinger 4-2, 4-1, Derrick Chen at 3 beat Harry Collins 4-1, 4-0 and Sam Clark at 4 beat Piers Bodily 4-2, 4-0. On to match 2 and the boys faced Oxford. Again a comfortable win for the boys 4 matches to 0. Alex, Derrick and Sam all winning their matches 4-0, 4-0, against Sam Christie, Harry Haigh and Thomas Russell respectively. Vincent was in for more of a battle, coming though a tough match to win 5-4, 3-5, 10-5 in the championship tie break against Louis Manson. The final tie of the day was against Norfolk. Again the boys went through with ease winning 4 matches to 0. Alex winning 4-0 4-0 vs Cameron Whiting, Vincent beating Danni Long-Martinez 4-2, 4-1, Derrick dropped only the 1 game to win 4-0, 4-1 against Harry Kettering, as did Sam in beating Oliver Palmer 4-0, 4-1. A very good day for the boys winning 12 straight matches and with it, the group.
Girls
A Cambridgeshire team of Aisha Brown, Ellie Coleman, Natasha Scott and Sama Malik were grouped against Norfolk, Northamptonshire and Oxford in the Under 14 12 Counties 2A group. First up was Northamptonshire and Aisha at 1 played Abigail Pearce, winning with out dropping a game 4-0, 4-0. Ellie was at 2 and played Alexandra Lewis winning 4-2, 4-0. Up next was Natasha at 3 and had a tough match, just losing in a close Championship Tie Break, 4-1, 2-4, 8-10. Sama at 4 faced Isabella Lloyd and took the final win of the tie 4-1, 4-2. So the girls beat Northants 3 matches to 1. Tie 2 was against Oxford and again the girls took the win 3 matches to 1. Aisha, Natasha and Sama all winning fairly comfortably against Raia Jagger, Holly Sheeran-Hall and Alice Wilkinson. Ellie coming close in tight Championship tiebreak, just coming out 2nd 4-2, 1-4, 10-12. The final match was against Norfolk and on paper the toughest of the 3 ties. Unfortunately due to a previous injury that flared up again, Aisha had to retire from her match after the first set against Vianne Palffy. Ellie was also in a tough match against an in form Monica Raviraj losing 2-4, 0-4. So 0-2 down with 2 matches to play it was up to Natasha and Sama to fight back to get the draw. In true Cambridgeshire spirit they did, Natasha beating Emily Barrett 4-2 5-4 and Sama beating Josephine Jarvis 4-2 4-0. So the girls drew with Norfolk 2 matches to 2 and so both teams came tied first in the box.
Added with the Boys results it was a winning day for the Cambridge U14 team, coming top!!
