Team; Abigail Reinfeld, Ella Wood, Emma Sawkings & Theodora Enslin
Kent v Surrey
In our first match of the competition we faced an extremely strong Surrey team. Playing first at number three was Emma Sawkings, Ella Wood at number two and Abigail Reinfeld at number one. Both girls went into the match with a plan and with the right attitude of trying to control the controllables against very able opponents who were physically strong as well as being great match players. Whilst they were clearly up against it, all three of the girls fought hard for every point, often making life difficult for their opponents, getting under their skin with some tough tennis.
In the end, we found ourselves 0-3 behind and having lost all of the singles matches we were unable to win the tie, however the girls didn't let it phase them and they were fully prepared for the task ahead of them for the rest of the weekend.
In the doubles match against Surrey, Ella and Theodora teamed up and whilst we lost the match, it was promising to see that our doubles play looked good against arguably one of the strongest counties in the country.
Kent v Sussex
Our next match was against the home county, Sussex.
For the singles matches, we kept to the same order as before. This match was a lot more competitive. Emma was the first on at number three and won her match in three very close sets. She worked really hard in the match solving problems and giving her opponent the things she liked the least, it was a great performance.
Ella and Abigail were also playing well, making their matches competitive however they did both go onto lose, their opponents were just too good, but they took the positives from their matches and the good news was that we were still in with a chance as we had the doubles to come were anything can happen.
Abi and Emma teamed up for the doubles match, both girls did well in their singles matches and we felt this was our best chance. The match was close, Sussex are always great doubles players it seems and this year was no different. The start of the match was close, our girls were hanging in with their opponents however, they did start to pull away after taking the first set. From here on in they went from strength to strength and won the match in straight sets.
This was a great effort from the Kent girls and an improvement despite the 1-3 loss.
Kent v Hampshire & IOW
Hampshire & IOW were our next test, having played the two toughest teams first, this tie looked like it could have gone either way.
We again stuck to the same order for the singles; Ella had a really difficult time against the number two player, who was strong. Whilst Ella tried to inroads info the match, she couldn't quite string enough points together and was unfortunate that she lost a few games early in the match on sudden death points. Having said that, we had no excuses, her opponent was the better player.
In the other two matches, Abigail and Emma were both playing some superb tennis, taking the opening sets in both of their matches. However they both got pegged back dropping the second sets which meant they had to both play match tie-breaks.
Abigail played her best tennis of the whole weekend in her tiebreak but just couldn't get any daylight between her and her opponent, they shared points all the way through, it was nip and tuck all the way. Emma was clearly starting to tire against her relentless opponent and went behind giving herself a lot to do.
In the end both Kent girls finished runners-up, but this shouldn't take anything away from two great performance, here we saw the harshness that is a game of tennis, this was by far our best showing, we looked in control of two out of the three singles, but found ourselves 0-3 down meaning the tie was already lost.
Understandably, the team morale was low, however we had a doubles match to play and whilst the score was pretty one sided, Abi and Theodora put up a good fight against their opponents but ended up second.
Kent v Dorset
Our final match of the competition was all about playing for pride.
It had been a really tough weekend for the girls, they faced some very strong competition and had taking some tough losses, it was important that we tried to finish strong.
Abi had played a lot of tennis over the two days so was rested, Ella moved up to number one, Emma to number two and Theodora stepping in at three.
Both Ella and Emma were struggling, it was obvious that tiredness was starting to creep in to their games and whilst they didn't perform to their full potential, the opposition were clinical, we were soon 0-2 behind.
Theodora, playing in her first singles match of the competition was matching her opponent shot for shot and had worked out a game plan that caused her opponent lots of problems. In the end she came off second best in two very tight sets, however, she did everything she could in what was a good performance.
At 0-3 behind we really were playing for pride, Ella and Emma paired up in what was the last match of the whole competition. They blew their opponents away in straight sets playing some excellent doubles, it was great to see them taking this match as serious as all of the others even though there wasn't anything on it, it was a great test of character and they both came through superbly.
In terms of results, the team finished 5th, I am a big believer in 'the table doesn't lie'.
However, with results aside there were lots of positives taken from the weekend.
Our girls now know exactly where they are at and what they need to work on to get better as they look to 12&U County Cup and I know that in the short time that has followed this weekend, they have already gone to work in becoming better match players.
They showed great character throughout the weekend.
Their doubles play is something that they have over their opponents which will be a huge bonus as they get older and continue to represent their county.
I would personally like to thank the girls for their commitment to the training and the team this year, it was really nice to see four players relish the chance to represent Kent.
I would also like to thank the parents for their great support throughout the whole process.
Harry Bushnell
Captain