Following their success in the Summer County Cup in July in which the ladies secured promotion straight back to group 1, in the Winter County Cup last weekend the ladies achieved the double by gaining promotion back to group 2.
This was achieved despite several setbacks. Sam Murray was unavailable as she was competing in Japan and the weekend before the event, Lisa Sutton, who would have played number 1 singles, had to withdraw with a stress fracture to her arm. Reserves were found and the team travelled to Wrexham to play Northumberland, Derbyshire and Hants and Isle of Wight. In the 1st rubber of the day on Friday, Vicky Basnett had reached match points when she fell and tore ankle ligaments and chipped a bone in her ankle. This was so unfortunate for Vicky and also a great loss to the team. The matches on the first two days followed the same pattern with Cheshire being 3-3 after the singles following a great win in 3 sets by Kim Schmider at number 1 on Friday and another on Saturday by Pippa Carr at number 3. Victory was achieved 5-4 by wins at 3rd pair and 2nd pair doubles on both days, with Katie Sidell coming in as a substitute for Vicky.
The match v Hampshire and Isle of Wight on Sunday was to determine promotion. To strengthen the depth of the singles, Katie Taylor was persuaded to play singles at number 2 and she brilliantly secured a vital win giving us a 4-2 lead following wins by Bethan Taylor, Eden Richardson and Pippa Carr. All 3 doubles pairs won the 1st set and the 5th rubber was a race to the finish. Special mention must go to Eden Richardson and Bethan Taylor, who were playing in their first senior event and won all of their singles matches and as a pair showed experience beyond their years to win 3 doubles matches.
Congratulations to everyone in the squad:- Vicky Basnett, Pippa Carr, Aimee Kaye, April Kerr, Eden Richardson, Kim Schmider, Katie Sidell, Bethan Taylor and Katie Taylor.