_0_175x-.JPG)
Team Members: Daphne Pratt, Lucy Spice, Abby Taylor, Phoebe Watton
We arrived at The Southdown Sports Club, Sussex bright and early on the Saturday. The conditions were very windy and made things a little bit tougher for all the teams. All the girls were really excited to play and looked forward to the weekend ahead. Our first tie was against Sussex and first on court for Kent was Abby Taylor. As the match went on Abby’s performance improved and she managed to win the second set to force it into a championship tie break. Unfortunately Abby came up a bit short and her opponent managed to win a highly contested encounter. Lucy Spice and Daphne Pratt then played their singles; both girls had tough opponents and after battling hard just couldn’t find enough to manage a victory.
In the doubles I played Lucy Spice and Phoebe Watton. Both Girls play at Maidstone Tennis Academy so know each other well. The match was a great example for under 12’s tennis as we had brutal rally’s crosscourt, intercepting volleys, topspin lobs etc. Sussex came out on top after all the matches (4-0).
Next up for Kent was Berkshire; they had also lost to Sussex. This meant the winner of our match would take second place in the group and go through to the semi finals.
Phoebe Watton came into the side and played her singles first. Her opponent was very consistent and made life difficult but after losing the second set phoebe managed to regroup and take the championship tie break to win the match and give Kent a 1-0 lead. Abby Taylor then played her singles against an opponent that was very aggressive and flashy. Abby showed great speed around the court and positive play to win the second singles match.
Daphne Pratt had to play a highly ranked opponent but after some flashes of brilliance lost the third singles.
Daphne and Abby teamed up to play the doubles and after a match where the score didn’t reflect the overall play Berkshire won to make the tie 2-2. This meant a Tie break shoot out was needed to win the contest. After much consideration I decided to play Daphne and Abby again. The girls had to take on the same pair that they had just lost too. The Tie break had an unbelievable atmosphere and the tennis easily matched it. Daphne and Abby had to save 3 match points to prevail the winners by 13-11. This meant we won the tie 3-2 and were into the semi finals.
Day 2-
When we arrived the heavens opened and it poured down for a while. This meant that the courts were flooded and the matches delayed. After a 2 hour delay Kent finally took to the court against Surrey. Daphne Pratt had to play a girl that was ranked in the top ten and had beaten Daphne a few months before. After a match which showed a lot of variety, sudden death deuces, net cords etc Daphne’s opponent came out on top to give Surrey a 1-0 lead.
Lucy and Abby also didn’t manage to win there singles which gave Surrey a 3-0 lead and most importantly meant they won the tie.
After another long wait Kent took on Hampshire for 3rd place. The first singles was split due to both players being injured.
Lucy and Abby played there singles and after that round the match was still level. This meant the tie would be decided on the doubles! I chose Phoebe and Abby to play and after a contested match Hampshire won. This meant Kent finished up in fourth place.
I would like to say a big thank you to all the players and parents. If it wasn’t for their dedication and effort the weekend wouldn’t have been as enjoyable
Ricky Gooch - Team Captain