A tough group in the AEGON County Cup meant that Dorset’s 18&Under Girls would have a real fight on their hands if they were to achieve a much sought-after promotion. Lincolnshire, Wiltshire and Cornwall all stood in their way, but the Dorset Girls showed their strength and class with some outstanding performances on the way to a deserved rise.
The group (5b) was hosted by the Tarka Tennis Centre in Barnstaple, Devon, and Dorset’s first tie was against Lincolnshire in what turned out to be a close affair. Dorset recovered from early setbacks and forged ahead thanks to some sublime play in both the singles and doubles matches.
Eliz Maloney and Lauren Hill were the stars for Dorset, the two players won both their singles and doubles matches and helped the team on their way to a 6-3 victory over their Lincolnshire opponents.
The team’s second match was against Wiltshire and for some of the squad it meant a possible meeting with Ema Lazic, who trains at and plays for Dorset’s West Hants Club. One of the top performers from the previous match, Lauren Hill came up against Lazic in the first singles match of the tie and thanks to a 6-3, 7-5 win, Hill got Dorset off to the best start possible.
She then combined with Hannah Gamage, who had earlier won her singles match 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, for the first doubles match in which Lazic featured for Wiltshire.The Dorset duo were pushed all the way to a third set champions tie-break, but a resolute performance saw them take the decider 10-4.
The team completed a dominant 7-2 victory over Wiltshire and a win in their third and final match against Cornwall would seal the promotion they were chasing. Corn wall had also won both of their matches and were also seeking a top place finish.
Once again, Dorset played some brilliant Tennis and a brilliant showing in the singles helped them claim the tie before any of the doubles matches had been played. Elle Baker and Lauran Hill, who had a 100% winning record in the group, both won their singles matches and doubles match for which they teamed up as Dorset took control of the tie. An overall 6-3 victory saw the girls finish top of the group and confirm their promotion from group 5b.
The team’s success was achieved thanks to valuable contributions from the whole squad, as well as some outstanding individual performances. The team; Lauran Hill, Eliz Maloney, Elle Baker, Anna Battersby,, Hannah Gamage, Amelia Stuart, Charlotte Payne and Hannah Murphy can all be proud of themselves and will no doubt be looking forward to the next round of the County Cup.
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By Harry Lund