On Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th July, Nottingham Tennis Centre was the venue for the Midlands region of the 9 & Under County Cup.
The Nottinghamshire team consisted of Alice Hill, Ayaha Horie, Daniel Blackburn and Harry Tait.
With wins against Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Staffordshire, the Notts youngsters came a creditable fourth.
The event was split into two days with three counties placed into three box leagues on day one and the winners from each box league forming a league on day two, with the runners up in another box and third place teams in the final box.
Nottinghamshire first played Leicestershire. Daniel Blackburn and Harry Tait both had tough first matches losing out by just a couple of points. Alice Hill and Ayaha Horie however had much easier first round matches winning 23 – 4 and 21 – 1 respectively. In the doubles, it was a similar story as the boys lost 10 – 14 with the girls winning 20 – 2. The result of the match was based on total points won and with the emphasis on the team, Nottinghamshire were the winners with the score 168 – 80 points.
Against Shropshire, there was a much tougher challenge ahead. Daniel, Harry and Ayaha all lost their singles with Alice winning comfortably at 20 – 6. The doubles matches were to be very interesting. The girls won 18 – 5 but unfortunately the boys lost 7 – 16, resulting in an overall loss to Shropshire 19 – 134.
As the runners-up in their group Nottinghamshire were placed into box B at the start of day two with their best possible overall result being fourth place. In their next match against Lincolnshire Daniel, Alice and Ayaha all won their singles and Harry just missing out but overall Notts won 60 – 44 points in a rain interrupted match. With the dark clouds building up Notts needed to beat Staffordshire to finish top of our league. Daniel lost out by a single point losing 7 – 8 but Alice won 12 – 7. At this point the rain started and the match had to be cancelled with the score standing at Notts 19 points to Staffordshire’s 17. Notts had won and secured their fourth place!
Congratulations to all of the players taking part and a special mention for Alice Hill who went all weekend without losing a single match. I feel all the players will have learnt about the importance of playing for the team which will be invaluable in future county cup events.
Dave Everington
9 & Under Team Captain