Nottinghamshire ladies played in Division 3a at Tipton this year with a particularly strong squad going in to the weekend. However an absolutely fantastic run by the 13 year old Eva Shaw to the final of the Liverpool ITF meant that we started Friday against Somerset slightly less strong than we would have liked. Brilliant wins by Livvy Tomkins, Millie Rajecki and Anna Buckley in their singles had us at 3-3 going in to the doubles. Nina Luiggi had battled a really tense 3 setter and Sarah Wright lost narrowly to Natalie Ackland, one of the top veterans in the UK 7-6 7-6. Level at 4-4 after the first 2 doubles with a solid win from Sarah and Livvy it was all to play for with Millie and Emily Crowe – our unbeaten pair from the summer against 2 inexperienced juniors. However the Somerset pair player some great tennis leaving us with a slightly disappointing 5-4 loss overall on a match that we should won.
Going in to Day 2 against Cheshire who had beaten Staffordshire 7-2 the day before we had a bit of a shakeup. Claire Godber battled at number 6 and despite losing she has finally gained her senior county colours so a fabulous achievement. Wins from Livvy, Emily Sarah and Millie saw us take a 4-2 lead in the singles. With Eva arriving in time to play doubles, wins from Emily and Anna and Millie and Eva at 2nd and 3rd pair meant a solid 6-3 win.
So in a scenario similar to the summer, we needed to win and Somerset to lose for us to gain promotion. The team were absolutely dominant starting with a 6-0 6-0 win for Eva on her senior singles debut and throughout all the matches Nottinghamshire were on top form taking the match overall 8-1. Somerset however beat Cheshire convincingly to take the promotion slot.
It was a good performance from the team despite the disappointment on day 1 they bounced back and showed a much stronger performance.
A fabulous weekend for the 3 juniors who all consolidated their senior game with good wins across the board and a big well done to the oldest member of the team Sarah who also had excellent results throughout.
We are looking forward now to Summer County Cup and the opportunity to try and get in to Division 2