14U Boys - Group E - Oxford
Report by Nick Edwards
On day one we faced our toughest challenge – Surrey. They’re a really strong team and went on to win the event. Despite being defeated 6-0, the Gloucestershire team remained focused, and the boys were determined to win the following day against Buckinghamshire.
The Buckinghamshire and Gloucestershire teams were more evenly matched. With Joel Price, Miles Johnson-Manley and Sam Tullett all winning their singles, and Zander Tremaine just losing in three sets, it took us to three points up, which was a great start. Playing the doubles with a 3-1 lead already, the players were confident about being the winning team! Unfortunately, after all the extensive doubles practices, the Gloucestershire team couldn’t quite handle the sharpness of the Buckinghamshire players. This affected our position and after losing the doubles and resulting in 3-3 overall score, the referee counted back on the number of sets won. It turned out we played an even number of sets (8 sets all) and we lost the overall result by four games. It was a hard lesson to learn but hopefully the boys now realise why I keep telling them that every game counts.
The boys felt disappointed knowing that they could not qualify for the national event, but they were reassured that they could still do themselves and the team proud by doing well on the last day. After an early night following a long day on Sunday, we were up against Somerset for fifth and sixth play-off. The boys were determined not to come last in the group. Jasper Richardson made a great start for the team, winning 6-4, 6-4, but unfortunately Zander lost in three sets, in a very close match. With Miles then losing and Sam having an epic match against Somerset’s number one, winning 6-4, 7-5, we were now 2-2 going into the doubles. This time the boys learnt from their mistakes and played much better doubles matches. Sam and Zander won comfortably, 6-3, 6-3, and Miles and Jasper defeated their opponents, 6-1, 7-6. The overall score against Somerset was 4-2, putting Gloucestershire in fifth position.
Our players worked hard and had a great attitude. Here’s to a better result next year!
14U Girls - Group E - Malvern
Report by Melissa Russell
The Gloucestershire girls 14&U County Cup team, consisting of, Judith Richards, Olivia Horn, Elsa Pool, Jenny Eales, Jordan Rawlings and Emma Minnican, competed in Malvern for the Aegon County Cup and enjoyed three days of beautiful weather and great tennis.
The format was new this year and saw the group of six teams divided into two groups. We were placed in a group with Oxfordshire and the No.1 seeds, Surrey. On Saturday we played Surrey and lost a well fought match 4-2 which really could have gone either way. We then played Oxfordshire on Sunday, wining 5-1. These results then placed us against Somerset who were the runners-up in the other half of our group, to compete for a 3rd or 4th place.
The match was very close and was 2-2 after singles with just the two doubles to play………… this also was split, leaving the tie 3-3 and Gloucestershire winning the tie by just 1 set and therefore finishing a well-deserved 3rd place in our group.