16th – 18th April 2011
Graves Tennis Centre, Sheffield
Team
Millie Devy-Smith 8.1, Lauren Prince 8.2, Erica Sanders 8.2, Hannah Davey 8.2, Kelsey Hodgson 9.1, Emily Bailey 10.2
Saturday:
Derbyshire 1
Lancashire 5
With Ceire Mullins away at a European Tour event and Millie Devy-Smith only available for doubles due to a shoulder injury, it was always going to be a big ask to beat the groups seeded team on the first day. Kelsey Hodgson came into the singles line up at No.4 and although going down 6-1, 6-2 kept fighting until the end. Hannah Davey lost a close three setter 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 but showed great character and fighting spirit until the last ball was hit. Erica Sanders moving up the line up to No.2 came up against a player two ratings higher than herself. Unperturbed she showed professional like focus and came away with an impressive 6-0, 6-2 victory. Lauren Prince playing at No.1 came up against an opponent in impressive form, giving away very few cheap points and keeping Lauren under constant pressure from the back of the court; Lauren lost 6-1, 6-1.
The Lancashire team kept the momentum going into the doubles and came away with two comfortable wins.
Sunday:
Derbyshire 1
East of Scotland 5
With our team weakened further due to losing Hannah Davey, day two was to prove just as bigger challenge as day one. We were out gunned at No.3 and No.4 with Emily Bailey losing 6-0, 6-0 and Kelsey Hodgson losing 6-0, 6-1. Lauren Prince lost 6-1, 6-2, however Erica Sanders proved yet again to be our stand out player winning 6-3 6-2 to keep the tie live going into the doubles. The doubles proved to be a close run affair and were both decided on third set Match Tie-breaks. Unfortunately they both went against us with Millie Devy-Smith and Erica Sanders losing 10-7, and Lauren Prince and Kelsey Hodgson losing 10-8. There were many positives to take from the day as we were literally a few points away from a 3-3 draw.
Monday:
Derbyshire 5
Nottinghamshire 1
Nottinghamshire were the team we matched up against most evenly on paper and as well as battling to avoid last place the girls were extremely motivated to finish on a high against our local rivals. We had our strongest team of the weekend so far with Millie in at No.1 after recovering from her shoulder injury and Hannah Davey returned after missing the previous days play. Hannah got us off to a flying start with a 6-0, 6-0 victory, while Erica finished the weekend with 3 wins from 3, yet again out classing her opponent with big serving and aggressive hitting from all areas of the court. Lauren pulled out a win in what was a rollercoaster of a match. After winning the first set 6-3, she found herself 0-5 down in the third set after losing 11 games in a row. As her opponent looked nervous trying to close out the match, Lauren grew in confidence and came back to win the final set 7-5 in the tie-break. Coming into the team at No.1, Millie was against a much older, stronger player, who had too much power for her, resulting in a 6-1, 6-0 defeat. Taking an early lead in both doubles matches seemed to end all belief from the Nottinghamshire players and the matches both went in our favor. With the shortened set format Millie and Erica won 5-4 (2), 4-1, while Hannah and Lauren raced to victory 4-1, 4-1.
Overall the team did very well over the weekend, especially as everyone had to play up the order due to injury and players being away at other events. Despite this we maintained a good team spirit, especially on the final day when we received extra support by players from previous years. I would like to say thanks to Diane Gibson for her support, she helped the weekend run smoothly as well as giving great motivation and support to the players. This was a very young team and we built great foundations for the future and really finished on a high with victory over local rivals Nottinghamshire.
James Middleton
Team Captain