Sunderland Tennis Centre was host to this year’s under 9 County Cup group B event. The group consisted of 4 teams; Durham & Cleveland, Northumberland, Cumbria and Yorkshire, who each played one another in a round robin event. Each match played was the best of 9 rubbers; 3 boys singles, 3 girls singles, 1 boys doubles, 1 girls doubles and a mixed doubles match.
The boys Durham & Cleveland team consisted of James Smith, Toby Grant, Joseph McLaughlin and Evan Conway whilst Emilia Griffiths, Olivia Greaves, Goodness Onuh and Izzy Hunt represented the girls.
Our first match was a nail biting experience against Cumbria with eight of the nine matches going to three sets. Our players showed great resilience and fighting spirit during the big points, winning 7 out of the 9 matches.
Our second match was against Yorkshire who had just lost their opening match 5-4 against Northumberland. All of our players tried their best and competed well but lost 8-1 overall with Toby Grant recording a great win against James Wilson.
Our final match was against Northumberland who had won their previous 2 matches knowing a win would see them as champions. The boys and girls played some unbelievable tennis; their best tennis of the day but lost the match 6-3 overall. Joseph won his singles against Luke Thompson whilst Toby and James, and Goodness and Evan won their doubles.
At the end of a tiring day Durham and Cleveland finished a respectable 3rd place with team captain Anthony Reynolds commenting,
'I would like to thanks all the parents and players for their hard work and commitment over the past few months in preparation for county cup. Every player was a pleasure to work with and looked like they really enjoyed the experience training and playing as part of a team. They gave their all in every match and that’s all I could ask for regardless of the results, Keep up the great work!’