Norfolk Ladies put in a tremendous effort to retain their Group 3 status at Summer County Cup last week. The team travelled to West Worthing Lawn Tennis Club without the talents of Amy Partridge, who is away in Thailand and 18 and under national champion Pippa Horn who competes for Great Britain at Summer Cup, but Dawn Springall’s inclusion proved to be a masterstroke as she helped keep the side in Group 3.
An opening 6-3 loss to eventual champions Kent on day one was encouraging as Karen Highfield and Lucy Brooks picked up two wins and Springall and youngster Olivia Nicholls added the third. It could’ve been different, Nicholls and Springall losing two tight matches that would’ve been enough for a Norfolk victory.
All three pairs contributed to Tuesday’s 6-3 win over Devon; Nicholls and Springall collecting all three of their rubbers, Highfield and Brooks providing two and third pair Kim Burgess and debutant Maddie Brooks earning a terrific third set win to round off the victory.
Wednesday saw Norfolk fall 5-4 to Berkshire, but it could’ve been so different. With the match poised at 1-1, Nicholls and Springall were locked in a third set tie-break which they eventually lost 11-9. This turned the odds in Berkshire’s favour and despite a valiant effort, Norfolk sunk to a narrow defeat.
A 6-3 win over Derbyshire on Thursday confirmed Norfolk’s survival and even threw them in the mixer for a possible promotion spot. Once again it was the top two pairs that delivered the results, Nicholls and Springall, Highfield and Brooks both picked up three wins from three including a tense third set tie-break victory for the latter over the opposing first pair.
Norfolk needed a 6-3 win over promotion rivals Yorkshire but ran into a side that was not to be beaten on the day. A 6-0 defeat put an end to hopes of Group Two but Captain Lucy Brooks insisted that the week had been extremely positive:
“I am really pleased with the whole team; Maddie, in her first year was superb and Dawn came from Austria to help the team. Nine wins from fourteen for each of the top two pairs is a great effort.”