With a comprehensive clean sweep of matches at the South East regional qualifying stage two weekends ago, Dorset would have to fancy their chances of winning the competition, dare we believe!
After a seven hour journey north on the Friday, West Scotland would be our first opponents in our box round robin of four teams. Toby Samuel playing at one singles got off to a sluggish start but was able to record a 4:1, 4:1 win against Lachie Macintosh to continue where the team left off in Bromley. Luca McManus equalled Toby’s score line against an energetic Samuel Macleod to allow Alex Knox Jones to start his match with the team firmly in the driving seat. Alex sealed the singles clean sweep with a 4:1, 4:2 win over Marcus Macaulay. Harrison MacDonald Taylor and Alex joined forces in the doubles and won the first set 4:2. However, after a Brave heart performance Lachie and Jamie Pollock came through to win the match tiebreak. This was Dorset’s first dropped match in this year’s event but a 3:1 score line would give them confidence going into their next match.
South Wales narrowly lost in a tense shoot out match tiebreak to Cheshire and were quickly put under more pressure with Toby winning 4;0, 4:0 against Alex Lewis. Luca produced a brilliant display of power tennis to win 4;1, 4:1 against Felix Raasch. Alex followed Luca’s lead with an equally devastating performance winning 4;1, 4;2 against Robert Janicek. With the tie sealed in Dorset’s favour, Toby and Luca combined to produce their best doubles performance of the campaign bringing down the valiant red dragons.
Day two would feature the top two teams in the group going head to head in what was effectively the semi-finals. Cheshire beat South Wales and West Scotland in the doubles and were confident of causing an upset. Again, Toby was first up and he started to raise his game with some huge winners from all over the court. Toby beat Danny Urey for the loss of two games to get the Dorset team going. Luca was on fire in his 4:1, 4:0 win over Matthew Cooper to give Dorset a foot in the final. Alex killed off the tie beating Finley Michaells, again for the loss of one game.
Hertfordshire reached the final for the right to be crowned National Champions with a thrilling match versus the much fancied Essex team winning in the tie break shoot out. With their tails high, could they pull of a shock win and deny Dorset the cup. First up was Joel Pierleoni packed with his huge arsenal of shots that included probably the biggest serve in the competition and battering ram of a forehand. Toby would meet fire with fire and the two boys produced the best tennis of the whole event so far. Both boys went toe to toe and battered each other with winners from all over the court. Toby’s experience shone through allowing him to claim the first set as he was able to keep his errors down to win 4:1. Joel then took a toilet break which affected Toby’s rhythm allowing Joel to take a 2:1 lead in the second set. Toby then regrouped and went back to his game plan to prevail 4:2 in the second to give Dorset a familiar 1:0 match lead. Luca, who was thriving on the whole team experience matched Toby and Joel’s tennis by demolishing Kade Neveling winning without dropping a game. It would be up to Alex now to win it for Dorset and claim the county’s first National title. Alex played the lefty Danny Anderson and just as his teammates did; he rose to the occasion and smashed his way to victory with a 4:1, 4:1 win. The title winning shot summed up our performance, a drive volley winner showing the power, control and belief of the team.
Captain Shane Deacon said “Wow! I told the boys from the outset that on paper we were the best team in the country but we had to work to win and not disrespect our opponents as we could easily slip up. The boys worked very hard and I would hope that other teams would think that we won in a good manner. Our singles line up totally dominated, winning 24 singles matches in a row for the loss of just three sets. Harrison was a great team player, keeping the rest of the team chilled off court and always ready to do his part on court. Toby, Luca and Alex showed the class they have and why they are currently ranked in the top four of the National leader board. Our team grew from being the best team on paper to a special team on court. ”