The Aegon 10U Girls County Cup was held over the weekend of 28th & 29th May and we were in Group F at Pavilion & Avenue LTC in Hove.
The team was: Aimee Aikenhead, Lily Bebbington, Scarlett Doman, Ivana Maynard, Lizzie Scarborough
The team Captain was: Karim Aouichaoui
This was a very difficult weekend for our under 10 girls. We faced three very good teams in Kent, Surrey and Sussex. With the other team in the group Dorset.
First up was Surrey and we had Lizzie, Ivana and Scarlett playing the singles. These were very tough matches competing against players at the top national level. We were 3-0 down after the singles and Aimee paired up with Lily losing out in a much tighter contested doubles match.
Next up was home team Sussex again an extremely tough fixture. Ivana, Aimee and Lily lined up for the singles. The girls fought hard but the competition was too much to ask and Sussex took a 3-0 lead. Lizzie and Scarlett teamed up for the doubles but faced a very strong pair and Sussex won the tie 4-0.
On day two we faced Kent and Dorset.
Again the Kent team competing to win the group were too strong for our Hampshire & IOW girls winning the tie 4-0.
The final match of the weekend was against Dorset and after the singles we were 2-1 up with very good performances from Lizzie winning comfortably and Ivana taking the 3rd set match tie break. With Scarlett just missing out losing 10-8 in the 3rd set match tie break.
Aimee and Lily tried hard but lost the doubles sending the match to a ten point match shootout.
Scarlett and Lizzie stepped up for the shootout and worked extremely hard to fight to get the Hampshire & IOW team a win this weekend. But the girls came up just short losing 10-7.
So the final score was 3-2 to Dorset.
I couldn't have asked for a nicer hard working group of players. All five girls gave it their all this weekend but ultimately the competition was too difficult to pick up a win. It was a great eye opener for the players and parents to see the level of the national players and what needs to be done back in their training environments. Great effort girls!
Karim Aouichaoui, County Captain