After two rounds of the 12 Counties Championships at Corby Tennis Centre, Norfolk’s junior teams sit in second place in Division 2B thanks to impressive performances from the 12u Boys and 10u Girls.
A total of 11 points leaves Norfolk just behind local rivals Suffolk who are top with 13 after a solid start to their campaign.
The 12u teams were the first to do battle at Corby and the girls’ side found it tough going; finishing in 4th place behind Suffolk, Bedfordshire and Leicestershire.
Two wins for Megan Lait at second singles and a hard fought victory for Frances Evans over her opposite number one from Suffolk were not enough for Norfolk to achieve any team success. Madeleine Hall and Rebecca Mainprize competed well with little reward for their efforts and the team lost every match 3-1.
The 12u Boys had a very different day as they defeated all three opponents to pick up the maximum 4 points for a first place finish.
A 3-1 win over Bedfordshire could’ve been a whitewash but Alex Watkinson was thwarted in a tense final set. Matthew Cott, Matthew Samson and Tomas Baker each won in straight sets for a solid start to the day.
It was 3-1 again as the team edged past toughest test Suffolk; this time Cott, Samson and Watkinson were the rubber winners with Baker missing out.
Finally, Leicestershire were swept aside 4-0 without the loss of a set to leave the team top of their age group.
With Norfolk in 3rd place overall, it was the turn of the 10u teams to make up some ground on joint leaders Suffolk and Leicestershire.
The 10u Girls put in a dominant performance to finish 1st and claim maximum points for Norfolk.
A 4-0 win over Bedfordshire set the tone for the competition as Katherine Barnes, Vianne Palffy, Rosie Evans and Monica Raviraj all stormed to victory, dropping no more than a single game in any set.
A battling performance saw them past overall group toppers Suffolk after Palffy had lost at number 2. Evans and Raviraj won in straight sets but Barnes had to come from behind to win the all-important third rubber 10-4 in the final set tiebreak.
The girls overpowered Leicestershire 4-0 in the last match of the day to give Norfolk a valuable points boost.
The 10u boys took 3rd place after victory over a 2-2 draw with Bedfordshire and defeats to Suffolk and Leicestershire. Stronger results in defeat than Bedfordshire helped Norfolk to the 3rd place finish and an extra point for the overall cause.
The 18u sides will take to the stage in February with the 14/u and 16/u teams to follow in March. Suffolk currently top the group with 13 points, Norfolk second with 11 ahead of Leicestershire on 10 and Bedfordshire with just 6.