Cambridgeshire boys team of Will Huyton, Ben Clark, Chad Richard, Josh Wilson, Tom Hands, Joe Matta and CJ Kindred performed with such confidence and great team spirit to ensure they won Group 3B in Taunton and gained promotion to Group 2 in 2014. This was a really excellent achievement by the boys and captain Matt Taylor.
The Aegon County Cup consists of 13 Groups with the top Group playing in Bath and all the other Divisions have an A and B Group and are played all around the country. There are 4 Counties in each group and over the course of 3 days each County plays each other with the top team promoted, the fourth team relegated and second and third teams staying. Each match consists of 6 singles rubbers and 3 doubles rubbers.
On Friday the boys played Devon and won 6 rubbers to 3 with wins for Ben Clark, Chad Richard, Josh Wilson, and Tom Hands in the singles and then Richard and Wilson and Huyton and Kindred in the doubles.
On the Saturday they took on Somerset and again came out on top with singles wins for Will Huyton, Chad Richard, Josh Wilson, Tom Hands, and CJ Kindred and then doubles wins for Huyton and Kindred and Matta and Wilson.
This set up an exciting last day with Cambridgeshire needing to beat Nottinghamshire to get promoted. Tom Hands and CJ Kindred got the team off to a good start with wins at 5 and 6. Although Josh Wilson lost at 3 and Ben Clark did at 2 there were wins for Chad Richard at number 3 and Will Huyton at number 1 to leave Cambs 4 -2 up after the singles. Huyton and Kindred then won the third doubles match and this was followed by a win from Richard and Wilson to give Cambs a 6 – 2 winning result.
The girls team played in Group 3 at Hills Road, Cambridge and also did the County proud with some very good performances. The girls team was very young with 3 girls making their debut at 18 and under level. Kira Reuter aged 12, Anna Loughlan aged 13 and Lizzie Pam aged 14 – which bodes well for the future if they all continue to play.
The team was led by 15 year old Zoe Douglas and then Alice Taylor, Stella Gordon, Kira Reuter, Lizzie Pam, Anna Loughlan and Natalie Bacon.
On the Friday the girls ironically also played Devon. The team got off to a good start with Anna Loughlan winning 6/2, 6/0 and Lizzie Pam winning 6/0,6/0. Kira Reuter had a tough match at 4 losing a hard fought match 6/7, 2/6 but then the top three of Stella Gordon, Alice Taylor and Zoe Douglas all won to give the team an unassailable winning 5- 1 lead. The third pair doubles of Lizzie Pam and Anna Loughlan won 6/4, 6/2 but the top two doubles pairs Douglas and Taylor and Bacon and Gordon both lost.
On the Saturday the girls played Avon who on paper were slightly higher rated but they all performed with huge credit. Again the team got off to a great start with wins for Anna Loughlan and Lizzie Pam. Anna Loughlan won a tough 3 setter while Lizzie Pam came back superbly in her match – she trailed 2-5 in the first set against Maria Budin who had several set points to take the set 7/5. In the second set Lizzie was 4/5 and 0-40 down but again came back to win the set 7/6! Kira Reuter again battled well but lost in three tough sets. Alice Taylor played the game of her life but was unable to quite beat the higher rated Laura Sainsbury while Zoe Douglas was out played by Brigit Folland and number one. So the singles were all square at 3 all in rubbers. The doubles matches on paper looked very hard to win with perhaps the only chance at pair three. Lizzie Pam and Anna Loughlan were unable to produce their singles form and lost 3/6, 1/6 so the match was left to the top two pairs. Zoe Douglas and Stella Gordon played perhaps their best ever doubles match and beat the top pair 4/6, 6/3 10-7.
Although Natalie Bacon and Alice Taylor played some really good tennis they could not quite beat the second pair and so Avon won overall by 5 rubbers to 4.
On the Sunday Cambridgeshire played Essex with the prospect of a win giving them a chance of promotion. Again on paper Essex were the stronger team. Anna Loughlan at number 6 had a very good three setter but just lost and then Lizzie Pam won her third singles beating the higher rated Rachel Porter 6/2, 6/1. 12 year old Kira Reuter played very well winning the first set but was unable to sustain this and lost a tough three setter leaving Cambs 3 – 1 down. Alice Taylor then played another good match beating the higher rated Shannon Newnes 6/3, 6/4. Zoe Douglas gave it her all in the number one singles match but lost out 7/5, 2/6, 3/6 leaving Cambs trailing 4 rubbers to 2 after the singles. Again Lizzie Pam and Anna Loughlan played a really good doubles wining 6/0, 6/1. Essex proved a little too strong in the top two doubles and came out 6-3 winners.
Overall the team played extremely well against higher rated Counties and will stay in Group 3 next year but with a young team the future looks promising. Team Captain Sue Rich was very proud of all the players and they all contributed to some exciting tennis over the three days.