Fielding relatively young and inexperienced teams, Leicestershire's men's and ladies' teams were both relegated from their respective divisions at the 121st staging of inter county week. This is one of the oldest team tennis tournaments in the world, still held exclusively on grass courts at various venues around the country.
Playing in division four at Hunstanton, the men came closer to survival finishing fifth of six, still in with a chance of staying up before going down by six rubbers to three to Dorset late on Thursday evening. Captain Tom Kisiel once again lead by example winning eight of his fifteen rubbers over a gruelling week of tennis played out in high temperatures and humidity.
The ladies, playing at Cheltenham, got off to a flying start by defeating eventual champions Essex 5-4 on the first Monday but could not carry the momentum further into the week, losing their next four matches, albeit by relatively close scores. As with Kisiel with the men, the top performer, Victoria Bullock, also won 8 of her 15 rubbers.
Both teams remain optimistic of an early return next summer, hopeful that the experienced gained by the younger players will stand them in good stead in a years time.
Further grounds for optimism were raised by the news that Leicestershire stands fifth of forty four counties in the 2016 County Leaderboard Table, a league that combines the results of every counties' junior and senior teams.
County Week results:
Men Division 4 at Hunstanton: lost to East of Scotland 1-8, lost to North Wales 3-6, beat Oxfordshire 5-4, lost to Dorset 3-6, lost to Warwickshire 4-5
Ladies Division 3 at Cheltenham: lost to Hampshire and Isle of Wight 3-6, Beat Essex 5-4, lost to Notts 3-6, lost to Northumberland 2-7, lost to Lincs 3-6