The Devon team which consisted of Beth Cooper, Leah Hurst, Jessica Hill, Hazel Vernon, Josie Culliford, Teya Sheppard and Lauren McGinnis arrived in Grantham Thursday afternoon for practise at the club. 4 indoor acrylic courts was going to be the playing arena for the next three days. All the girls trained well ready for Durham and Cleveland the next day.
Durham and Cleveland had a strong bottom four and we went into doubles 4-2 down. Good singles wins for Josie at 5 and Beth at 1. Josie and Hazel and Beth and Teya had two great doubles wins tieing the match at 4-4, but unfortunately we lost the last doubles match on a match tie-break thus losing the tie 5-4. So close. After the match we went out and practised and improved ready for Saturday.
Lincolnshire on Saturday and we were battling the vocal home crowd. We put up a good fight in singles again, with good wins from Jess at 3 and Beth again at 1. A couple of close losses for Teya and Josie, but again we went into the doubles 4-2 down. Brilliant wins from Beth and Teya and Josie and Hazel tied the match at 4-4, but unfortunately we lost the last doubles match in two tight sets (first set was 14-12 on the tiebreak). Again so close!! Team moral was still high and our goal was to stay up in Group 5 now. The girls had a good team dinner and were well rested for the last day.
Oxfordshire or us to stay up. We went 2-0 down after two three set losses in the 5 and 6 singles, but then Hazel and Jess turned the tie around in under an hour with two straight forward wins. Leah came on and won 6-0, 6-0 at number 2 singles which was a fantastic win, and then Beth beat their number 1 in straight sets and Devon were going into the doubles 4-2 up!! Hazel and Jess won their doubles 2 and 0 for us to win the tie and to stay in Group 5 next year. Leah and Lauren won their doubles and so did Teya and Beth. Devon win 7-2.
The team atmosphere was brilliant over the whole weekend. Tia Sloman did a fantastic job as assistant coach in preparing players for matches, supporting players and going on court at the change of ends to help the players in their matches. I am extremely proud of the girls. They all busted a gut and showed real determination to stay up! Come on Devon!!
