Day One:
A tough match against Derbyshire. Up first at seeds 5 and 6 were Henry Beesley and David Hubbard. Dave went down in three tight sets before Henry made it 1-1 winning in straight sets. At seed 4, Sean Hodkin pulverized his opponent losing only three games. Seed 3, Dom Beesley also saw off his opponent comfortably leaving Lincs 3-1 up. At seed 2 Ed Allinson lost in straight sets, whilst at seed 1, star man Dan Cox saw off the Derbyshire number 1 with ease. 4-2 up going into the doubles we only needed one rubber for the win. That duly came from the third pair of Allinson and Will mason, winning 10-3 in the champs tie break. The second pair, brothers Dom & Henry Beesley also won well, coupled with a loss at first pair for Hodkin/Cox left Lincs with a 6-3 win!
Day Two:
West of Scotland. Up first at 6 Dave Hubbard fought tooth and nail but sadly couldn't quite grab the win. Harry Burley stepping in at seed 5 played some brilliant tennis winning in straight sets, 1-1. Henry Beesley at seed 4 went down easily to his very impressive opponent, before Hodkin at 3 once again won well! Dom Beesley at 2, faced a tough opponent, going down relatively comfortably in a match not without the odd flash point! This left Lincs 3-2 down and relying on Dan Cox to pull the tie level which he did routinely! 3-3 going into the doubles and some nervy matches ahead. Third paid Allinson/Mason won well, only dropping three games, 4-3. Beesley/Beesley and Hodkin/Cox both played brilliantly well winning both matches in two sets meaning Lincs took the win, 6-3 once again.
Day Three:
Promotion shoot out against Suffolk. Going into the day without Dan Cox available we knew it would be a tough ask. With Hubbard stepping out of the singles, Will Mason came in at seed 6 and played brilliantly to win easily. Burley at 5 unfortunately went down comfortably, to his seriously strong opponent, 1-1. Henry Beesley played at 4, eventually running out a three set winner in the most gruelling match of the weekend! Once again at 3 Hodkin showed his class, seeing off his opponent with ease, 3-1 up. Another extremely close match at 2 with Dom Beesley running out a fantastic winner in two extrememly close sets. Allinson playing at one had his chances, but went down in 2 very close sets. 4-2 up going into the doubles, Lincs were in a strong position. On the flip-side Suffolk are a group 1 side in Summer County Cup so we knew claiming one doubles win was going to be tough. That said, at third pair the combination of Hodkin/Hubbard started well winning the first set 6-2. The Suffolk pair fought back to take it into a champs tie-break, which after swinging one way and another the Lincs pair took 10-8, giving Lincs the rubber they needed and promotion!!!!
Another unbelievable effort from all 8 guys involved over the weekend and another shot at group 2 next year, the highest achieved by a Lincs team in my memory! Hopefully next year we can cement our place in group 2 or maybe even dream about promotion to group 1!
Finally, a big thanks to Grantham Tennis Centre for the brilliant hospitality over the weekend!
Ed Allinson. Men’s Captain