14 Girls County Cup Report
4th – 6th May 2013
Venue: Wrexham Tennis Centre
Team
- Victoria Allen 5.2
- Hannah Davey 6.1
- Millie Devy-Smith 6.2
- Kelsey Hodgson 7.1
- Jade Sandhu 8.1
- Marleyna Trifunovic 9.2
Saturday: Derbyshire 1 - Cheshire 5
For the third year running we played the groups top seeded team on the first day.
Both Kelsey and Millie got off to slow starts and their higher rated opponent’s grew in confidence with every game. They both lost their opening matches 6-0, 6-0. Hannah Davey was next on and immediately this looked like a winnable match for Derbyshire. Hannah didn’t let us down and pulled through what could have been a much tougher battle with a 6-4, 6-2 victory. Victoria Allen had a tough match at number 1 against a very powerful opponent. She eventually lost 6-2, 6-2, however the match was much closer than the score line suggests. After going down 3-1 in the singles The Derbyshire girls needed to win both the doubles to take the match into a tie-break shootout. Hannah and Millie got off to a very slow start losing the first set 6-0, however after a tactical change they won the second set 6-3. They then had another slow start in the 10 point tie-break decider but managed to claw their way back to 8-8, finally losing 10-8. Victoria and Kelsey had an uphill battle in their doubles playing Cheshire’s stand out players from the singles and lost 6-0,6-1.
Although the team lost 5-1, the girls fought hard and if a few key points in 2 of the matches had have gone our way we could have potentially got the match into the lottery of a tie-break shootout.
Sunday: Derbyshire 5 - Nottingham 1
Before the start of this encounter, to help motivate the girls I reiterated the importance of the local rivalry between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Kelsey Hodgson seemed to have a breakthrough moment and got us off to a fantastic start with a 6-2, 6-2 win over a girl she had lost to previously. The rest of the Derbyshire girls matched up well against their Nottinghamshire counterparts and in quick time we had wrapped up all 4 singles. Millie Devey-Smith won 6-1, 6-2, Hannah Davey won 6-2, 6-2 and Victoria Allen then completed the full set of singles wins 6-1, 6-2. This gave us the chance to rest Victoria for the doubles and give Jade Sandhu the chance to make her County debut. Millie and Hannah won their doubles 6-2, 7-5, while Jade pairing up with Kelsey lost 6-1, 6-1.
Monday: Derbyshire 5 - North Wales 1
Yet again we met North Wales on the final day, another repeat of last year. Kelsey got us off to a great start carrying the confidence from the previous days win into to this match She overpowered her younger opponent, always looking under full control winning 6-1, 6-2. Millie outclassed her opponent winning 6-0, 6-1, hitting winner after winner yet making very few errors. It was Hannah Davey on this occasion that proved to have the toughest job at number 2. Hannah lost 6-1, 6-2, her opponent simply too strong and too consistent. The contrast between Victoria Allen and her opponent was evident from the moment they stepped on court. Her 6 foot opponent had a serve that wouldn’t have looked out of place on men’s county week. After a long battle and some disputes over her opponent’s line calls Victoria lost the first set 3-6. In the second set Victoria came out more focused, seeming to be using the earlier disputes as further motivation, not that she needed it. She won the set 6-0, although the set was a battle with 5 out of the 6 games going to deuce. The third set started nervy for both players and the North Wales player took a 2-1 lead. Victoria then won the next 4 games and at 5-2, 40-0 up, her opponent seemingly relaxed, looking accepting of defeat she won 5 points on the bounce with her free hitting to keep the match alive. Mentally weaker players than Victoria may have let this affect them, however, Victoria broke serve in the next game to close out the match. Millie and Hannah then won their doubles 6-2, 6-3 which secured the win for Derbyshire. Kelsey and Victoria had already started their doubles by this stage but it was agreed to shorten it to a one set match as it was the last day and a dead rubber. They won the set 6-4, securing another 5-1 win for Derbyshire.
Summary
Although again losing on the first day made it look unlikely we would qualify for the national finals, getting two 5-1wins was overall not a bad result. There were breakthrough wins for Kelsey Hodgson and Victoria Allen who both beat players they had previously been unable to. All of the girls should be proud of themselves for how they performed over the weekend and yet again the team spirit was fantastic. I would also like to say a huge thanks to Diane Gibson. As always she helped the weekend run smoothly as well as giving great motivation and support to the players.
James Middleton
Team Captain