Lincolnshire team travelled to Redbridge to contest group 3, at 18U. The team consisted of Joe Woolley (Louth), Sean Hodkin (Scunthorpe), Ed Colclough (Lincoln), Seb Darke (Louth), Felix Beech (Stamford), Henry Beesley (Boston), Andrew Isaac (Grantham) and Josh Elliot (Louth). Ed Allinson of Louth was the Team Captain/Manager.
Group 3A was a very tough group. Nottinghamshire, Devon and Cambridgeshire all appeared to have strong teams and it was soon evident Lincolnshire was in for a very competitive weekend.
Day One: A tough match against Notts and one that on paper could go either way. At seeds 6 & 5, Andrew Isaac and Sean Hodkin kicked things off. Unfortunately for Andrew a disappointing straight sets defeat. Sean on the other hand fought back well after a lacklustre second to win in 3 sets to level up the scores. At seed 4 Seb Darke didn't produce what he is capable of and went down comfortably before Henry Beesley levelled things up at 3. 2-2 in rubbers our number 2 player Ed Colclough fought valiantly before going down in 3 tight sets, before No.1 Joe Woolley levelled it up with an easy straight sets victory. 3-3 going into 3 crucial doubles rubbers.
Our Third pair doubles team was Henry Beesley and Andrew Isaac, despite losing the first set having been 5-3, 40-0 up they came back to win in three sets in what turned out to be the pivotal victory, because at second pair the team of Woolley and Josh Elliot comfortably saw off their opponents giving Lincs the 5 rubbers required. First pair Colclough and Darke lost in a close match, with the final score eventually been 5-4 to Lincs.
Day Two: The other score on the first day was Cambs 6-3 Devon, so it meant a match with Devon on day 2. Andrew and Sean at 6 & 5 saw off their opponents with ease giving Lincs a 2-0 rubbers lead. Josh Elliot came in for the seed 4 singles and despite fighting back brilliantly from a slow start went down 6-4 in the final set. Henry, Ed and Joe at seeds 3, 2 and 1 respectively however all cruised through their matches to give Lincs an unassailable 5-1 lead after the singles.
Doubles wins at 3 for Colclough & Hodkin and at 1 for Beesley & Woolley along with a close defeat, despite some excellent doubles, from Darke & reserve player Felix Beech gave Lincs an overall 7-2 victory.
Day 3: As expected it turned out to be a promotion shootout between us and Cambs on the final day. Cambridgeshire had brought in a new player for the third day, a lad ranked 158 in the world juniors, so we had our work cut out!
Needing a good start, two fantastic performances from Isaac & Hodkin at 6 and 5 gave Lincs the 2-0 start they needed. At 4 unlike the previous day Elliot wasn't able to produce a fight back from another slow start and went down in two close sets. At 3, Henry lined up against their new, highly ranked player. The signs weren't good losing the first set 6-2. A few words were exchanged between Henry and the captain at the start of the second set and things started to look up with Henry taking a very high standard set 6-4. Colclough unfortunately by this time had lost comfortably to his impressive opponent at 2, meaning the importance of Henry’s match was huge! In one of the tensest, fantastic matches I’ve ever seen at a County cup, and, after losing serve twice serving for the match, Henry pulled off a 76 in the third victory and cannot be commended enough for a truly brilliant win! That left us 3-2 up with Woolley to play at 1. Again it wasn't going to be easy, playing the runner up in last summer’s National Championships. The standard from both players was as good as any junior level you will see, and again much to his credit Joe pulled off the win 7-5 7-5! 4-2 up and one doubles win needed.
Colclough and Hodkin at 3 started slowly losing the first set 6-2, Once Woolley’s match on the next door court had finished both lads started improving their form taking a tense second set 6-4. Third set tie-break and potentially one that could decide the whole weekend! At 7-6 down it was looking shaky, but much like in the Winter County Cup Men’s event, also decided in a third set tie-break involving Colclough, 4 points in a row were won, sparking jubilant celebrations, and giving Lincs PROMOTION to Group 2!
As Captain I can only say how brilliant all 8 lads were throughout the weekend. The Lincs Tennis 18U Boys’ team has now achieved promotion three times in succession, beating counties that have more players and more financial resources. The team spirit was a joy to behold and I can’t speak highly enough of all 8 of the team this weekend! And who knows, maybe this time next year we might, fingers crossed be heading into group 1!!! A special mention also goes to Assistant Captain Carly, suffering from loss of voice through cheering on the lads!