Saturday:
On the first we played against the Channel Islands and with the struggle they must face with getting across to play a large number of tournaments, we didn’t want to lose our focus byt taking their low ratings seriously. As it turned out all of the opposition were better than their ratings suggested, however not strong enough to trouble us. A dominating 6-0 win dropping only 11 games. The team which stayed similar for each day consisted of:
1) Ben Battey
2) Harry Butler
3) Finley Bygrave
4) Shuei Belcher
1) Ben Battey and Shuei Belcher
2) Millen Hurrion and Freddie Powell
Sunday:
We faced Cornwall who had taken a pretty convincing loss against South Wales on day 1 so it was a good chance to test ourselves to see whether we could do the same, and match up against the Number 1 seeds on Monday. We kept the exact same team and each and every one of the boys performed better than the day before and again we came away with a 6-0 win and only 11 games dropped to set up a final day decider with South Wales who had also convincly won both matches.
Monday:
Given South Wales ratings, we knew it would be tough, but we could definitely match them and take the title. The rain was falling in Bath, and for that reason we got moved on to the Astroturf, and matches consisted of 2 short sets, followed by a 3rd set champions tiebreak if needed. The singles order stayed the same and Shuei Belcher continued his run of fantastic performances by outclassing the South Wales number 4, 4-1 5-4 (0). Finley Bygrave unfortunately endured a hard fought loss losing the 3rd set tie break 10-6 to level the match at 1-1. With two more 3rd set tie breaks following, Harry Butler performed well under pressure winning 10-3, while Ben Battey despite his fantastic effort in tough conditions lost to the South Wales number 1 rated 2 places higher 11-9. Going in to what we knew was going to be 2 tough doubles, I fixed our order so Ben and Shuei played at number 2 pair, while using Millen Hurrion as a sub to play himself and Freddie at number 1 pair. Given the strength of the South Wales number 1, they were overcome 4-1 4-1, however Ben and Shuei continued their impressive form winning on a 3rd set champions tie break to take it in to a final doubles shoot out. Given their performances and confidence following a fantastic tiebreak, I stuck with Ben and Shuei for the decider, who faced the South Wales number 1 pair. A well contested tie break with fantastic doubles to watch and at one stage we found ourselves with a match point at 9-8 up. Had it not been for what can only be described as shot of the weekend, (Thiago Micallef hitting a backhand drop volley with backspin off a low shot by Ben Batteys fh against the wind and therefore making it spin back towards the net even more!!), Dorset would have been crowned champions. A further solid two points from South Wales however, sealed the victory for them and Dorset came away with 2nd place.
A great weekend and the kids felt absolutely gutted that we didn’t win but again like the U18 team, apart from Ben Battey, all of the team can play again next year so bring on 2013!