The 16&U girls played their matches on Outdoor Synthetic Clay Courts that were canopy covered so lovely and shady. The first team they played on Saturday was Bromley TC, Kent, the No.1 seeds, who proved just a bit too strong. Our team had some close misses with Jessica losing 4-6, 6-4, 5-10 in a tie break, and Katy losing 5-7 3-6.
So Sunday we were playing for 3rd and 4th places and taking on Heaton TC, Yorkshire. This proved to be a very close match. Liz went on first and fighting all the way was unlucky to loose 5-7 3-6 while Lydia played some fantastic rallies against 25th nationally ranked Sophie Dodds. It was a very exciting first set but Lydia couldn`t quite manage to clinch it and went down 5-7 3-6.
Next on was Jess but her opponent was in good form and she lost 2-6 3-6. Last but not least in the singles our No.1 player Katy who played Serena Nash who is ranked nationally at No.8 for 16&U girls.
Katy worked really hard and played amazing tennis eventually winning 7-6 6-4! We were 2-6 down after the singles with all to play for in the doubles! Next on, Lydia and Liz won their doubles in a nail biting 10-3 tie-break.
As it was getting late and although Katy and Jess would have loved a shot at winning the doubles, Heaton conceded the last doubles match and so the score was now 6-6. We were going into a tie-break shootout, which after some brilliant rallies; we were unlucky to loose 5-10.
The final score was 6-7 to Heaton TC. It is an amazing achievement for Coach David Williams, who has produced a 16&U girls’ team capable of competing with and beating some of the country’s top junior tennis players and teams. It was a great experience for the girls and at the end of the weekend; they were each given a t-shirt, a presentation and took part in a photo shoot.