Team - Emily Crowe, Charlotte Phillips, Sarah-Kate O’Grady, Emelia Box, Rebecca Wood, Lynsey Cover, Ellie Horton, Rachel Wood.
Friday 19th February Kent v Notts.
Lynsey and Rebecca were first matches playing at 5and 6. Lynsey lost the first set to Devan McCluskey 1-6 but fought hard to take her to a tie-break 6-7 in the second. Rebecca’s first set went quickly 1-6 to Emily Rodbourne, Rebecca played better in the second set but still went down 4-6.
Emelia played a good first set against Ellie Murphy 6-2, but then lost her consistency going down 3-6,1-6.Sarah-Kate played Nicole Daisley having a convincing win 6-2,6-1.
Charlotte and Emily went on knowing we needed these two singles to keep us at 3-3. Charlotte had a tough match against Francesca Faulks, first set being a 7-5 win, but an easier second 6-3. Emily won her first set 6-4, but was taken to a tie-break in the second loosing it 5-7 in the tie-break. She then went on to have 6-1 win in the third set. This took us to 3-3 as we had planned.
The girls were outplayed in the two matches at 2 and 3, Sarah-Kate and Rachel loosing 1-6,2-6, with Emelia and Lynsey going down 1-6,6-7. Emily and Charlotte played very tightly and solidly to win 6-0,6-0.
The overall match score Kent won 5-4,11-9 sets, 89-86 games.
Saturday 20 February Surrey v Notts.
Surrey were looking very strong so we knew we were in for a battle, they had solid wins against North of Scotland the previous day. Lynsey played a good first set against Lana Rush 4-6 , but went down 1-6 in the second. Rebecca played Lily Miyazaki who moved the ball so well round the court, Rebecca lost 0-6,1-6.
Sarah-Kate played Laura Hornsby but fell to a heavy loss of 2-6, 0-6. Emelia played Emily Gibbens, she played well in the first set, but a few too many errors crept in, she lost that set 5-7, unfortunately the second set went quickly 1-6.
We were four singles down now which put the pressure on Charlotte and Emily. Charlotte tried her hardest , but Emilia Banos-Gregorians just hit the ball too hard for Charlotte to be able to stay in the rally. She lost 2-6,2-6. Emily was up against Ruth Seabourne, we all knew her strength and athletitsm.
Emily won the first set 6-4, staying well in the long rallies. She lost the second set 4-6 in an equally hard battle, the third set was longer and tougher with Emily winning 7-5. This was one of the best matches over the whole weekend lasting three hours ten minutes
It is always hard to have to play the doubles out when you know you have lost, but that had to happen. Emelia and Lynsey lost 2-6,2-6, and Sarah-Kate and Rebecca also lost 2-6,1-6.
The match score was Surrey 7-2,16-4 sets, 120-67 games.
Sunday 21 February Notts v North of Scotland.
Ellie Horton played today for the first time at 18u. She played Lisa Munro from Inverness. Ellie played well, but the weight of shot was too great for her to sustain and she lost 4-6,4-6. Lisa did tell me after the match that her nearest indoor centre was 100 miles away, the had been snow covered since December 16th, so clearing court was the only way of playing! Lynsey played Shona Graham, she lost the first set 4-6, playing well but just a few too many errors. The second was a more positive win for Scotland 2-6.
Emelia played her best match winning 6-0,6-1against Julia Blackwood, despite mention a shoulder injury in the early morning knock-up. Sarah-Kate just made too many errors in this match against Alice Keddie going down 3-6,6-1.
Charlotte and Emily again had the hard work of keeping us at 3-3. Charlotte played very well against Jennifer Green winning 6-3,6-1.Emily was so determined to achieve three singles wins in her last 18U County Cup, she run herself into the court in yet another hard three setter against Morvan McCulloch. She won the first set 7-5, but lost 3-6, 4-6 in a great match.
We needed two of these doubles. Emily did state that her body felt in bits, she was struggling to work! Lynsey played with Rachel Wood. This was a good pairing, they worked well together, winning the first set 6-3. The second set went against us 1-6, so all down to the match tie-break, which the fought for winning 10-8.
We needed one of these last doubles, Sarah-Kate and Rebecca Wood lost the first set 3-6, but won the second in convincingly 6-1. Again we were down to the match tie-break, this was a close battle but unfortunately they lost 10-12. Charlotte and Emily were battling away at the same time as this match, it was too much for Emily and they also lost 4-6,3-6.
Surrey were the winners beating Kent 7-0, 14-1 sets 89--29 games. The score did not reflect some of the great tennis played.
Jane Stokes.