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Liverpool Tennis Centre hosted Group 4a for the annual Aegon Winter County Cup welcoming 4 County Teams from across the country, including Durham & Cleveland(D&C) Ladies . D&C Ladies had seen promotion in the summer and were aiming to the same in the winter, and make it one better than last year to finish top of the group!
It was a great weekend with Niamh Packer making her senior debut and Lois Page competing her winter county debut and only her second senior county following her debut in Summer County Cup earlier in the year. The ‘oldies’ (Lydia and Jo) along with Nicola Tweedy, Farah Azia, Caitlin Hindmarsh and Yasmin Tanfield completed the full team list across the 3 days of competition. Not of course forgetting our instrumental leader, Captain Libby Fletcher.
Day 1 saw a comfortable 7-2 win for the team over Dorset with 5 out of singles going to the North East based team and 2 out of 3 doubles. Niamh Packer had an outstanding win, battling it out to win on a tie-break in the third set – quite an achievement to withstand that pressure in her first ever senior county match and come out on top.
Day 2 included not only on court activities but also a tourist trip around the tennis centre by Captain Libby Fletcher and fellow visitors (the club has pictures of Liverpool sights plastered around it!). The team came out of the blocks fresh and ready to go on the Saturday and took all 6 singles against East of Scotland to wrap the tie up before the doubles……although it took another great battle this time from Nicola to win her match on a tie-break in the 3rd set. The team took some time out over lunch to watch the Murray brothers in their Davis Cup match which inspired the girls ahead of their doubles, although they only went on the win 1 of the 3 doubles, the team had still won the match 7-2. This meant they would be playing for promotion on day 3!
To relax and enjoy the first 2 days, Caitlin Hindmarsh made the call to take a trip to Cheshire Oaks to soak up the Christmas spirit and seek some bargains - the Team weren’t disappointed and came back to Liverpool laden with shopping bags!
Day 3 was always going to be tough against Wiltshire, who had also won their previous two matches with ease and had a strong number 1, Ema Lazic. Ema Lazic had recently been competing in Hong Kong and Japan but had scheduled in Winter County Cup into her calendar (unfortunately for us!). However the team believed it was a match to be won and set off fighting…..
Lois started off the day with a bang by taking her singles and Lydia dug deep after being 5-2 down and match point down in the 3rd set to take her match – both players sealing 3 out of 3 singles wins over the weekend, a particular achievement for Lois in her first ever Winter County Cup. Yasmin, Nicola and Farah played their opponents next and it was great to see the determination to play well and fight, but in the end their opposition were too strong and the team were 3-2 down. We then watched Caitlin play Ema, who played with too much strength, consistency and confidence this time for Caitlin. This saw the Wiltshire player remain unbeaten over the weekend following the doubles match also, which clinched the match and took them into group 3 for next year’s competition. Although D&C were then 5-2 down and had lost the tie it was great to see Lydia and Jo, along with Farah and Lois still fight on and take their respective doubles matches. This resulted on the team just missing out on promotion with a 5-4 loss. Once again the team spirit and support for each other was fantastic and we are already looking forward to next year’s events and continuing to strengthen the D&C team and fight for promotion…next stop Summer County Cup!
Although the team were disappointed with the narrow miss, the positives of the weekend shone through. Team D&C welcomed new players, had a great spirit over the weekend and were truly inspired by the Davis Cup victory in Belgium. As Captain Libby Fletcher said,
“Team Tennis is growing in this Country, with competitions such as Aegon County Cup, Aegon Team Tennis and other local opportunities. Competing as a team is fun and the spirit that D&C Ladies have shown over recent years is inspiring more players to get involved, whilst keeping other players in the game!”
Aegon County Cup events give players the opportunity to represent their county in team competition in national/regional stages. The age group categories range from 9U to 35+. Events are held at different times of the year and in order to compete players have to be selected by their county.
For results click here
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Picture: Back row: Caitlin Hindmarsh, Nicola Tweedy, Lydia Perkins (Vice-Captain), Jo Cunliffe (Vice-Captain), Libby Fletcher (Captain). Front row: Donia Aziz, Lois Page, Yasmin Tanfield, Niamh Packer, Farah Aziz.