Team: Moira Johnson, Anna Buckley, Katie Fuller, Jessie Beiley, Amelia Rajecki
Our venue was The Stourbridge Tennis and Squash Club - a lovely facility for the weekend. We were in a group of six, in two groups of three. We played the East of Scotland first, Jessie had a good win 6-2, 6-1, but Katie played a very steady player loosing 1-6, 2-6. The Scottish team had the Mair twins at number one and two, very strong competent girls, Anna played well but was outpowered by Jessica 1-6, 1-6, Moira stood up to the power but could not compete with the consistency of Charlotte, going down 3-6, 5-7. Notts girls played well in the doubles with Anna and Amelia winning 6-3, 6-3, but Moira and Jessie lost to the twins 5-7, 1-6 in a well fought match. Notts lost this match 2-4.
The order of play was strange, on the first day we then had to play the doubles against Cumbria, this was to our advantage as they had not had a match. Moira and Jessie had a good win 6-3, 6-4, as did Katie and Amelia 6-3, 6-1.
We were first matches on the next day to play the singles against Cumbria, it was great to start 2-0 up, Amelia had a very solid win against Sophie Cains 6-3, 6-0, Jessie had a tough match which she lost 1-6, 1-6. Anna had a good win 6-4, 6-1 and Moira had a close match, she played well but lost 4-6, 6-7(3-7). This gave us a 4-2 win so allowing us to be playing for 3rd/4th place the next day.
The other group had Buckinghamshire, Derbyshire and South Wales. Derbys matches had gone to a tie-break shootout on both days, we ended up having to play them on the final day. Amelia had along match against Marleyna Trefunovic , Amelia won the first set 6-7, she lost the second 7-5, she then went 5-0 up and eventually won 6-3. It was a great match, long rallys, two very determined girls. Jessie had a tough time against Kelsey Hogson, a strong player, Jessie lost the first set 1-6, she played more confidently in the second set, but lost it 4-6. Anna had a very good win over Hannah Davey 4-6, 4-6, playing some solid tennis. Moira had a tough match against Millie Devey-Smith, she lost the first set 2-6, won the second easily 6-2 with some very accurate shots, but it slipped away 3-6 in the third set. This result put us 2-2 to go into the doubles, Derbys were just more consistent and won both in two sets, they did play Victoria Allen in this match which did make a difference, she had been injured so did not play the singles.
The girls played well as a team over the weekend, most will be able to play next year, so a great experience for them. My thanks go to the parents who came to support and particularly to Amelia’s who helped with the transport throughout the three days.
Jane Stokes