The boys headed off to Northampton in a tough looking group hoping to finish top of the group and qualify for the National finals at Bolton.
On a rain affected first day we kicked off against Northamptonshire, a great performance from Louis Marsden at no. 3 singles got us off to a flying start. Owen Wilson at no. 2 and Alex Solonenko at no. 1 both produced fighting displays to win close matches, which sealed an unassailable 3-0 lead. The doubles rubber saw Oscar Holmes and Louis team up, but despite some smart doubles from the boys they went down 4-2, 4-2. Great start: a 6-2 win against Northamptonshire.
After play on day 1 being abandoned, we came back on Sunday with potentially each player playing up to 7 matches in one day. A comfortable 6-2 victory against Nottinghamshire, with Oscar Holmes performing well in his singles debut, had us in a great position with the two strongest teams left to play.
Warwickshire were up first, and with three close singles matches we took a 2-1 lead, Louis winning 10-4 on third set tie break, Owen narrowly losing in third set tie break and Alex winning 5-3 5-4. The doubles, which again went to three sets, unfortunately saw Owen and Alex lose on a tie break. This meant shootout time, and Louis came in to team up with Alex. After being 9-5 down, and qualifying looking out of the question, the boys produced a miraculous comeback to win it 13-11.
So, a winner takes all tie with Lincolnshire, another really close tie on paper. A strong performance from the Lincolnshire number 3 saw them take a 1-0 lead before another two tie breakers. Owen produced his best performance of the weekend before narrowly losing 10-8 on the breaker. Alex also produced his best performance of the competition against a strong Lincolnshire no. 1 player, taking the breaker 14-12 from match points down. We then went into the doubles needing to win, and then to follow that by taking the shootout to qualify. Alex and Louis again set about the job with a strong start before the nerves jangled, and yet again we were into a tie break. Unfortunately this time we couldn't produce another miracle.
All this meant a hard fought second place in a very tough division. A brilliant performance from the boys - I couldn't have asked any more from any of them.
Captain - Tom Kisiel
Players - Alex Solonenko, Owen Wilson, Louis Marsden and Oscar Holmes.