18&U County Cup Report March 2011- 3A (Sunderland)
Team:
Roisin Mullins 4.1
Danielle Pym 6.1
Louise Holtum 6.2
Ceire Mullins 6.2
Agnes Hau 7.1
Olivia Nelms 7.1
Katy Wilson 7.1
Mary Langen 7.2
Venue: Graves, Sheffield (excellent venue, staff helpful and catering good and reasonably priced.
Hotel: Sheffield Park (also very good )
Referee: Peter Greatorex (very good)
Derbyshire v Northumberland Won 6-3
Derbyshire set off to a flying start. Katy made light work of her singles match, as did Ceire. Aggie and Liv’s went into a third set but both emerged convincing victors. Louise had a very close match against the experienced Amy Holburn and had chances to take the match into a third set. Dani put up a good fight against Northumberland’s no.1, the world ranked Alex Walker, but she was too consistently strong for Dani. The girls won two out of the three doubles matches convincingly which secured our 6-3 victory.
We were without Roisin on the first day, so it was a sound win with confident performances. Mary Langen made her U18 debut in the doubles and secured a good win with Katy.
Derbyshire v Cheshire Won 5-4
Roisin’s arrival boosted the strength of our team, Liv; however had a niggling injury so the decision was to rest her in the singles. so that she would be fit for our final day.
Katy continued where she left off with an easy victory, however Aggie, by her own admission, did not play her best and lost, so the match was locked at 1-1. Ceire pulled off a sound win against Kate Dewsnip, followed by a determined win by Louise. Roisin secured a victory in her first match, which gave us a 4-2 lead. Although she dropped a set and is not in regular match practice, she looked fit and held her nerve to romp home in the third set.
Aggie and Liv played very well to easily beat the Cheshire third pair and so we were playing on Sunday with a chance of promotion.
Derbyshire v Buckinghamshire Lost 3-6
As previous days, Katy notched up her usual 6-2, 6-2 victory. She is undefeated in U18 County Cup singles. Liv set off well with a good, but tight first set win, sadly she was edged out in the third set. Ceire made easy work of her match, but unfortunately Louise’s three set battle went to Bucks. Dani and Roisin both put up a good fight in their singles but, sadly we lost both.
Again, Aggie and Liv pulled off a good win against the third pair but Louise and Katy lost a cliff hanger 11-9 in the third set tie breaker. The only disappointing match was the battle of the number 1 pairs. Bucks won it comfortably, never really allowing Dani and Roisin to get into their stride. That said, Bucks were on average a higher rated team and the overall performances from all the Derbyshire girls well matched the opposition in most areas.
At the beginning of the weekend, it looked as if the team may well have been battling to hang onto their position in group 3 and although the Derbyshire girls narrowly missed promotion, they were all a credit to the county and were collectively, the hardest working team we have had for some years.
We say goodbye to Roisin and Aggie (as well as big thanks for all their efforts) and wish them well in senior tennis.
The usual thanks must go to Bill Higson whose meticulous arrangements help everything run smoothly on and off court as well as create great team atmosphere.
Jane Rushby (18&U Team Coach)