The 12U girls travelled all the way to Bolton Arena to compete against the best counties in the country. The team was Mia Wainwright, Naomi Szczur, Sophie Lager & Henna Quraishi.
In our box we had Avon, Yorkshire & Hertfordshire. Link to all the results will be at the end of the report.
On Friday our first test was Yorkshire who are known to have a very strong team, although the girls came out strong the opposition played a better game on the day and took a 4-0 win. With Mia, Naomi, Sophie playing the singles and Mia/Henna competing in the doubles. Tough day for all the girls competing at such an event, the crowds, the noise. It all had to get used to as we went along.
Saturday Morning comes and the girls are on court practising from 8am!
We’re up against Hertfordshire who end up the overall winners of the competition.
Mia takes the win as first seed with a 4-1 4-0 score, Sophie loses out in straight sets and Naomi battles really hard but falls short taking it to the 2nd set tie-break 5-4 (11-9).
Next up we take on Avon, after a tough battle in the doubles losing 4-2 5-3 it all boils down to the tie-break shootout as it’s now 2-2 in rubbers. Mia/Sophie have been here before, they left it out all on court with a 10-7 win that gets Nottinghamshire a first overall win.
An overall position of 3rd for the girls in our box, that means we now go up against 3rd place from the other box who were Warwickshire, playing for 5th/6th place!
Playoffs – Sophie is on first starting with a comfortable lead in the first set, as the set went on a few problems with her foot caused her to not move as well. 3-5 in the first set and 1-0 down in the 2nd, she couldn’t play any longer or this injury was bound to get a whole lot worse, so the rubber went to Warwickshire.
Naomi has one of the best matches at the event taking it to a tie-break in the 3rd. Although losing 10-7 in the end, Naomi walked off the court a winner in everyone’s eyes especially to myself & Andy Higham who were with the team throughout the 3 day event.
Mia takes a 5-3 4-1 win over a very big hitter who gave her a lot of trouble throughout the entire match, an amazing effort from all the girls.
We’re 2-1 down with only the doubles to go, Mia/Naomi get put up against their 1st/2nd seed. This was most certainly the longest match we had encountered throughout the weekend, some great tennis on court and pure support from the balcony from all the parents + players. The final Score: 5-3 1-4 10-8!
A shootout to decide who wins, the same pairings go out on court instantly – a fantastic fight by the girls, unfortunately Warwickshire come out on top in a very close 10-8 victory.
To finish 6th in the country is a superb effort from all the girls & they worked so hard!! Along the way they received valuable experience, a ton loads of fun & memories that’ll last forever. A BIG thank you to the parents that supported!
Team Captains – Zef Antonio & Andy Higham
Link to results: https://lta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draws.aspx?id=11E560BD-3633-40BE-813E-7B357B05011E