12 & Under Girls County Cup 2014

12 & Under Girls County Cup 2014

Devizes, Wiltshire 28^th – 29^th June 2014

28^th June 2014

Gloucestershire v Avon 1-3

1. Charlotte Russell (6.1) beat C. Simpson (5.2) 1-4 5-3 1-0 (7)
2. Isabella Nunez (7.1) lost to Natasha Wraith (6.2) 1-4 0-4
3. Olivia Rook (8.1) lost to Lucy Edwards (7.1) 0-4 2-4
4. Russell & Rook lost to Edwards & Simpson 1-4 1-4

The team worked very hard against the competition favourites and managed to take them fairly close. Isabella found it tough going in her match and made a few too many mistakes but tried to play positively. Olivia competed hard and had some great rallies against a hard hitting opponent. A clever change of tactics made the second set closer. Charlotte played very well once she believed she could win. She played patiently and then attacked when the chances came. She came through a tense champs tie break to win. The doubles format has sudden death juice. We lost three games in this way with two games in the second set going their way. If we could’ve got them we may have managed a closer score and some much needed momentum.

Gloucestershire v Cornwall 4-0

1. C. Russel beat Aimee Polybank (10.1) 4-1 4-0
2. I. Nunez beat Zoe May (10.2) 4-0 4-1
3. O. Rook beat Lily Kneebone (10.2) 4-0 4-0
4. Regi Ristic-North & I.Nunez beat A.Polybank & L.Kneebone 4-0 4-5(4) 1-0(5)

We went from playing the strongest to the weakest. A comfortable win all round. A special mention to Regi Ristic-North who hurt her arm but soldiered on to complete the clean sweep of matches.

29^th June

Gloucestershire v Wiltshire 2-3

1. C. Russell beat Jessica Doerr (7.1) 4-1 4-1
2. I.Nunez lost to Ameila Bissett (7.2) 1-4 0-4
3. O. Rook beat Sophie Day (10.1) 4-0 4-0
4. Russell & Rook lost to Doerr & Bissett 4-1 4-2

Tie break shoot out

Russell and Rook lost to Doerr and Bissett 10-6

The match hinged on the doubles and Wiltshire’s paring played outstanding against our pair which meant we were going to a shoot out. We kept the same pairing and changed tactics but after a poor start to the tie break we started getting into the match but nerves eventually got the better of us. 

3^rd and 4^th Play off

Gloucestershire v Devon 3-1

1. C.Russell beat Beth Cooper (6.2) 4-2 2-4 1-0 (6)
2. I.Nunez lost to Emily Syms (7.2) 0-4 0-4
3. O.Rook beat Olga Aphrodite Diavastis (9.1) 4-1 4-0
4. Russell & Nunez beat Cooper & Syms 5-4 (5) 2-4 1-0 (6)

Charlotte made a great recovery after the match looked like it was slipping away. The advantage of being able to talk to the players especially helped, it made her re-focus and concentrate on how she was going to play and not what had already happened. Olivia won comfortably and with Isabella losing the doubles was going to be important. Changing the doubles pairing to Charlotte and Isabella was a good plan and they won a very close match and in doing so finished 3^rd overall.

Overall

All the girls had a great attitude and gave 110% in everything from supporting to playing. The matches were all played fairly and in good spirit. The matches really showed the girls what they needed to improve to become more successful. They will all learn from this trip and hopefully be able to build on their experience.

Mark Lunn