On Saturday 20th July the Leicestershire team travelled to Kings Park in Northampton to contest the Midlands Under 9 County Cup.
Our first match was against last years champions Lincolnshire. We started strongly with both Louie Fletcher and Matthew McKinnon winning their singles in fine style to put us 2-0 up! Dylan Sanghera followed his team mates with a hard fought win battling back after losing the first set. The excellent start continued with both Roisin Boyd and Deni Smith following the boys example and winning their matches to guarantee Leicestershire a victory in our first match. In the boys doubles Rio Birchnall partnered Louie Fletcher in a comprehensive win with Rio showing some amazing volleying skills. Emilia Parker and Roisin Boyd demonstrated excellent team work allowing them to cruise to a straight sets victory.
The match finished with a comprehensive victory for Leicestershire 7-2 over Lincolnshire.
Our 2nd match was against Nottinghamshire and once again we raced into a 2-0 lead with Louie and Matthew battling to hard fought victories. Matthew even managed to save 3 match points in turning around his singles! Dylan then matched up against the Nottinghamshire number 1 boy and despite great use of his slice backhand his opponent sneaked through the 2nd set to win. In all 3 of the girls singles Emilia, Deni and Roisin had match winning opportunities but sadly couldn't take them as we found ourselves 4-2 down after the singles. This meant that we needed to win all 3 doubles matches to win the tie. The pairing of Deni Smith and Matthew McKinnon produced an excellent display to easily win the mixed doubles. They were followed by arguably the best match of the day as Dylan Sanghera and Louie Fletcher won a very high standard and noisy boys doubles. Sadly Emilia and Roisin couldn't get us over the winning line in the girls doubles and a brilliant fight back from Leicestershire fell just short.
The match finished in a frustrating 5-4 loss to Nottinghamshire.
Our final match was against unbeaten Northamptonshire. We knew that our only chance was to beat them convincingly to win the competition. Once again Matthew and Louie got us off to a fantastic start winning their singles rubbers to put us 2-0 up. Unfortunately we couldn't build on this and after tough losses against good players we were again 4-2 down after the singles. Northamptonshire closed the match out by winning both the boys and girls doubles. Matthew and Deni fought well to finish the day on a positive note by beating the Northamptonshire mixed doubles pairing.
The match result was a 6-3 loss to a good Northamptonshire side.
This meant overall we came 3rd but with half the side eligible for next years competition some valuable experience was gained. I have to give a special mention to both Matthew McKinnon and Louie Fletcher who both won 5 out of 6 rubbers on the day, a tremendous effort.
I would like to thank the players for their amazing efforts and attitudes. The parents for their support before and during the competition and my assistant captain Abigail Amos who provided excellent advice for myself and the players.
Adam Charlton
Under 9 County Cup Captain