The Aegon 14U girl's County Cup Team , comprising of Ella Monsey, Hannah
Vickers, Erica Belton, Nia Braidford and Phillipa Clarke, managed by
Marc Powell and Sheelagh Watts, travelled to Billesley in Birmingham
last weekend (15th - 18th April).
The 14U County Cup format changed for the first time this year whereby a stage 1 event has been introduced with two round robin groups at various venues across the country. We were put together with Hertfordshire and Leicestershire in our group, which was a tough proposition since these counties are quite large with very good strength in depth. Additionally, for 3 of out team, this was their first experience of county tennis at this level. However, the
girls coped very well under pressure and although they were defeated 6-0
on the first day to the eventual champions Hertfordshire, there were
several impressive displays. The second day against Leicestershire
proved much more fruitful with the girls notching up a 5-1 victory,
including impressive rating wins for Erica Belton and Nia Braidford.
This meant that going into the final day, the team were playing off
against Berkshire to see who would finish 3rd or 4th respectively out of
6 teams. Unfortunately, the girls suffered a 5-1 loss but the score did
not reflect how close the matches were. Ella Monsey played a faultless
1st set but was unable to maintain this high standard going down in 3
sets. Nia Braidford fought extremely well and despite having a match
point, went down 6-4 in the final set. Hannah Vickers managed to play
fantastically well but was outplayed by very strong opposition.
The experience will I am sure stand the girls in good stead for future
county competitions and the girls were a pleasure to manage both on and
off court. The good news for the future of Suffolk tennis is that 4 out
of the 5 players are eligible to play again next year.