Young team does well at 14U AEGON County Cup

14U Girls County Cup Report

Captain – Jon Bradshaw

Team – Kate Horsburgh, Hannah Gibbons, Alicia Williams and Kirsten Campbell-Ferguson

Venue – Lincoln

The weekend had a disappointing start due to the team being a player short because of the very late withdrawal of Georgina Cupper due to non-related tennis issues.  We were then unable to bring in a reserve due to problems caused with the room arrangements.  In spite of this all the players worked extremely hard throughout what was a very tough competition. With three of the players still only 11 years old we were always going to find it hard in an Under 14 event.

The first day we played West of Scotland.  After being 2-2 at the end of the singles with good wins from Hannah (7-5 4-6 6-4) and Kirsten (6-1 6-1) it all came down to the doubles.  Alicia and Kirsten played really well and won 6-1 6-2 which left the match all down to the final doubles.  In a tight game Kate and Hannah battled well to come through 10-4 in the match tie break leaving us with a fantastic 4-2 win.

Day 2 turned out to be much tougher against a very strong Lancashire team. All the girls battled hard in the singles against higher rated opposition but unfortunately we lost, all in straight sets. In the doubles Alicia and Kirsten played fantastically to win 11-9 in the match tie break against much older opposition.

As the weather forecast was so bad for the final day Alicia and Kirsten played their final singles on Sunday against North of Scotland in the third and fourth placed playoff.   Having already played a tough singles and a gruelling doubles both players were extremely tired.   Kirsten had to withdraw from the match at 3-3 in the first set due to not feeling well, while Alicia battled really hard but unfortunately lost in straight sets.  We eventually lost 6-0 to North of Scotland leaving us finishing in 4^th spot from 8 teams.

Thanks to all the players in the team for their effort over the weekend.       With such a young team, to finish 4^th was a great result and will be valuable experience for the next few years.

Jon