The Cornwall U18 girls team travelled to Redbridge to compete in the 2009 Group 5A LTA County Cup.
Sarah Arnold, Imogen Harry, Lauren Norton, Charlotte Pinch, Penny Tilsley, Claire Tresidder and Emily Wicks made up the team with Ryan Fern as Manager and Kate Flavelle assisting.
Up first was West of Scotland, who had the strongest line up of the division but the Cornish girls got stuck in and recorded an amazing 5-4 win with some great results from Pinch, Arnold and Wicks in the singles and a couple of brilliant performances in the doubles from Tilsley and Norton, and Wicks and Tresidder to get Cornwall off to a flying start.
The second match was against Oxfordshire. Cornwall started well by winning the first three matches with Pinch, Arnold and Norton all victorious. Unfortunately, Cornwall could not build on the lead in the rest of the singles so the match was all poised at 3-3 with the doubles to come.
Norton and Tilsley won the 3rd pair match, but Tresidder and Wicks lost the 1st pair match, so it went down to the wire with Arnold and Harry competing in the 2nd pair match. Oxon won the 1st set, Cornwall came storming back to take the second set, all was now resting on a tie-break shootout. After some fantastic and exciting tennis the Cornish pair lost 12 – 10.
Come Sunday all 4 teams where fighting for promotion. Cornwall’s campaign against Suffolk started well with wins for Pinch and Arnold. Unfortunately Cornwall lost the next 3 matches but Tresidder got Cornwall back on even terms by winning her singles. Once again it was down to the doubles, Cornwall picked up 1 win and the overall result was a 5- 4 loss.
Cornwall‘s relegation was particularly hard to bear as they had beaten the champions on the first day. Overall the girls did a great job and with a bit more luck and experience, the result may well have been different.