Team:
Girls - Evie Lopez, Lily Beiley, Emily Trease, Daisy Banks.
Boys - Rhys Biro-Moore, Aiden Law, Gabriel Johnson, Hayden Oakes.
This was the first round of the 2015/2016 Corby 12 Counties Competition. This event is not a County Cup, but organised and run by The Corby Tennis Centre, with Counties that choose and pay to enter. It is always played between October and March, with five age groups competing, with combined boys and girls results on completion in March.
The first round we played was against Northamptonshire, Gabriel won his first match 4-2, 4-1, Rhys had a slow start and lost the first set 2-4, came back in the second 4-0, but then lost on the match tie-break 6-10. Hayden played a very tight match winning easily in two sets, with Aiden also winning 4-2, 4-2. The girl were up against a strong team , Evie started well in the first set, but then went down 3-5, 2-4, Emily had a tough match also losing in straight sets, as did Daisy and Lily, our girls were up against girls who were physically so much taller and stronger. This gave us an over result of 3-5.
The second round was against Bedfordshire, Gabriel had an easy win, Rhys again went to a match tiebreak which this time he won 10-7, Hayden and Aiden both had straight set wins, playing some very good tennis. The girls’ opponents could not raise a team, so sent two girls who were out of the age group, so giving everyone matches, Evie lost her match to a very strong player, she kept her in the rallies but could not keep up the weight of hitting. Emily had a win, Daisy won her match, but Lily had a loss. The results of players at 3 / 4 were counted for the competition but not at 1 / 2, so we attained the wins. Notts overall result was 7-1
The final round was against Leicestershire. Gabriel had another easy win, he was the strongest and tallest boy there, which is proving a huge advantage at this age. Rhys also had an easy win 4-1,4-0. Hayden played an amazing match against a boy head and shoulders bigger, he defended so well, keeping the ball in play to produce long rallies but did go down 0-4, 1-4. Aiden had a tough match, he lost the first set 0-4, won the second 4-0, played well in the match tiebreak to win 10-5. Evie had another tough match she played very well, but went down in two sets, Emily gained a w/o as her opponent pulled out in the second set with an elbow injury. Lily lost her match in two sets, with Daisy the last match on, she unaware for Notts to obtain a win, was dependent on her match. Daisy kept her concentration in a tight match to give Notts a 5-3 win.
There was great team spirit throughout the day, my thanks to the parents for their support.
The final result was:
Notts boys 4 points, girls 2 points
Northants boys 2 points, girls 4 points
Beds boys 1, girls 1
Leics boys 3, girls 3
So, the great news is that we are placed top of Div 2B – so this is a great start to our season at Corby!
Next match will be for the 10 and under on 28th November
Jane Stokes (Captain)
