The 18U Girls County Cup team assembled at Tennis Buddies at 4pm on Thursday the 26th of Feb to practice before setting off on their travels to Shrewsbury for this year’s county cup.
This year’s team was Lydia Walker, Vicky Beardsley, Dana Kenneally-Forrester, Emma Mastin, Rosie Thomas, Lucy Hull, Emily Hawkesworth and Megan Jones. We were a quite inexperienced team with 4 of the 8 players playing 18U county cup for the first time.
Day 1 v Northants
We were always going to be up against it. Our best chance of a win was probably the first day against Northants. We were 3-3 after the singles with Vicky, Rosie and Emily winning their singles.
Doubles Vicky and Lucy were thrown it at 1st pair as a bit of experiment to allow Lydia to play with Emily at 2nd pair. And possibly as expected we shared those 2 doubles. Score now 4-4!
Emma played with Megan in the 3rd pair and shared the first 2 sets and ended up in a deciding match tiebreak. A tough ask for 2 newbies on the first day. They had their chances but unfortunately lost out 10-7.
Day 2. v Cornwall
A very tough day for us. Emily was the only singles winner at number 6 today. A couple of close doubles but nothing to show for it.
Lydia Walker failed to show her form from previous years on the bowling alley later in the evening and came flat last! Whoops!
Day 3 v West of Scotland
Again we were underdogs. 4-2 down after the singles. With good wins for Vicky and Emily. Spirited efforts from Lydia, Emma, Lucy and Rosie but nothing to show for it.
Dana and Megan played at 3rd pair doubles and were first on. Again a decent effort but unfortunately going down 6-4 6-2. As is the case on the last day the dead doubles rubbers weren’t played and people made their way home.
A disappointing weekend really. We were a couple of players light and struggled bringing in new blood. However there were a few bright points. Vicky won 2/3 singles at number 2 having been mainly a reserve last year!
Emily ended her junior county tennis career with 3/4 wins over the weekend. Hopefully Emily will continue to play and feature in the senior team in the future.
Also there were a couple of lively performances from Rosie and Lucy who are still eligible for the 14U county cup team. (As is Vicky). Hopefully we may have better luck in the 14U’s later this year.
David Williams, Team Manager