LTA County week proved to be a steep learning curve for both the Leicestershire Men's and Ladies teams this year.
The men were in group two for the first time in a number of years and were playing at Havant. The opening day saw a much anticipated match with local rivals Derbyshire. Despite a number of close three set matches the team eventually lost 8-1 to a strong Derbyshire team.
The second day saw an excellent performance from the team going down 7-2 to eventual group two winners Hampshire, whose team included Josh Goodall (recently inside the top 300 in the world).
Day three was the big one to have any chance of staying up we needed to win and a solid team effort saw Jack Simpson and Jonny Cloke win 2 out of 3 rubbersas did captain Tom Kisiel and Sam Preston and 1 out of 3 from Marc Westgate and Adam Popowicz.
The fourth day was a must win to have any chance of survival, the team boosted by Suffolk losing two of their stronger players who were present all week. Chris Egan Morris made his competitive county week debut with Marc Westgate and won 1 out of 3. Despite a very strong performance from Kisiel and Preston winning 3 out of 3 the team narrowly lost 5-4.
The final day saw the team needing a miracle win against Lancashire and relying on Cheshire to beat Derby. Unfortunately neither happened and the team was relegated.
Captain Kisiel said, "It's brilliant for a county of our size to be competing at this higher level. The team enjoyed the challenge and we will be back stronger knowing what we must achieve to get back to Division 2 and stay there".
The Leicestershire Ladies team were in Ilkley to compete in Division 3 of the Aegon Summer County Cup 2013. On day one they faced tough opposition from Sussex, losing 6-3. Kerry Pollard had travelled up for the day and won 2 out of 3 rubbers with partner Victoria Bullock. The next day the team lost 7-2 to the Nottinghamshire side, despite a brilliant win for Jo Fox & Lottie Jameson.
Wednesday was an important match against the team from Avon who had struggled in the first two days, and at 3-3 it was all to play for. Charlie Griffin & Jennifer Gadsby won a close three set match, Victoria Bullock & Becky Scrivins won all three, and went on to secure 7 wins in a row. Unfortunately however the team lost the deciding rubber leaving the final score 5-4.
The weather was mainly fantastic across the week and the team enjoyed some high quality grass court tennis. The remaining matches were tough as Leicestershire lost 6-3 to Berkshire & 5-1 to Yorkshire, with both of these teams securing promotion to Division 2 next summer. This was the debut county week appearance for Jo Fox, Jennifer Gadsby & Amelia Coltman and we all look forward to playing for promotion from Division 4 next year!