Leicestershire’s Under 18 County Girls team just missed out on promotion from Group 4 when they lost out on the last day to eventual winners Devon.
With several girls making their debuts at this level the girls performances over the weekend were extremely encouraging and the spirit within the team was noticed by the opposition Captains who were full of praise for the manner in which the County Girls conducted themselves.
Venue : NEWPORT INDOOR CENTRE
Day 1. Leicestershire 8 Oxfordshire 1
The first day saw the team score a resounding win over Oxfordshire.
Debutant Charlotte Jameson went down in a closely fought affair against Cara Garner by a 6-7, 4-6 scoreline before Sophie Matthews ,another making her debut levelled the score with a 6-2, 6-1 score over Elizebeth Shorts.
Jenny Gadsby at No4 and the third debutant played solidly to put the County in front with a 6-1, 6-3 score over Asha Badiani.
Convincing wins followed for Charlotte Griffin, 6-1, 6-0 over Olivia Jagger, Abigail Amos by a 6-0, 6-0 score over Lucy Jane Ingram and Captain Helen Thorpe by a 6-1, 6-2 score over Alice Atkins.
Matthews then teamed up with Jameson to win their doubles in a closely fought affair, running out winners by a 6-4, 5-7(10-7) scoreline over Atkins and Short.
Amos and Gadsby followed this with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Sophia Marriot and Gainer before Thorpe and Griffin rounded it off with a 6-0 6-0 win over Ingram and Jagger.
DAY. 2 LEICESTERSHIRE 6 CORNWALL 3
Cornwall had performed well against Devon and looked to be tough opponents for the Girls but once again the team produced the goods to score their second win.
Amelia Coltman made her debut but went down in the first match by a 2-6, 3-6 scoreline to Imogen Harry and Sophie Matthews was unable to produce her form of the first day and went down by a 1-6, 4-6 score to Amy Johns.
Jenny Gadsby put the Girls back in the hunt with a 7-5, 6-1 win over India Rojano and Charlotte Griffin levelled the scores following a splendid 5-7, 6-3 6-1 win over Emily Wicks.
Abigail Amos produced another good performance when she notched a 6-4, 6-2 win over Alisa Cole and following a monumental effort by Helen Thorpe who overcame Athena Chrysanthou in a match lasting nearly three hours by a 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 scoreline and this after being down 2-5 and surviving match points against her.
Matthews and Jameson lost out in a close affair going down by a 6-3, 4-6( 6-10) scoreline to Johns and Harry.
Amos and Gadsby collected their second win with a tightly contested 7-5, 6-4 win over Cole and Rajano before Thorpe and Smith rounded it off with a comfortable 6-1, 6-0 win over Chrysanthou by a 6-1, 6-0 margin.
DAY 3 LEICESTERSHIRE 2 DEVON 5
The loss of Charlotte Griffin for the vital match was always likely to be a factor but despite this Leicestershire started well .
Charlotte Jameson in at No 5 put the Girls in front with a really solid performance winning 6-4, 6-2 over Mia Loye.
13 years old Ana Webber came in for her first match and although going down by a 1-6, 4-6 score line showed a lot of promise.
Sophie Matthews battled hard before losing out in a three set match 1-6, 6-3, 1-6 to Liberty Brown before Jenny Gadsby recorded her third win with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win over Lara Graney.
Abigail Amos came up against experienced campaigner Katie Miller and went down by a 4-6, 1-6 score before No 1 Helen Thorpe looked likely to level the scores once again. However Helen suffered a groin injury which severely restricted her movements and finally went down by a 1-6, 6-3, 4-6 score to Emma Hurst.
Needing to win all three doubles now, Sophie Matthews and Amelia Coltman were up first but were overcome by the strong pairing of Brown and Sarah Collinge by a 3-6, 0-6 score.
This was enough to give Devon the title and the young County Girls had to settle for the runners up spot.
Overall a fine team performance by a very young squad with Thorpe and Griffin playing their last U-18 team event and once again setting a superb standard for the youngsters.
Jenny Gadsby collected a 100% record on her debut and Abigail Amos weighed in with 4 wins.
Captain Paula Horobin was delighted with the teams performances both on and off court and described them as a credit to the County.
TEAM :
HELEN THORPE (Capt) , CHARLOTTE GRIFFIN, ABIGAIL AMOS, JENNY GADSBY, SOPHIE MATTHEWS, CHARLOTTE JAMESON, AMELIA COLTMAN & ANA WEBBER.