On Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th June, the Sussex U12 girl’s team, Tiana Fox, Alicia Dudeney, Evelyn Kilsby and Josephine Constable supported by the coaching team of Martin Reeves and Katie Andersson headed to Chichester Rackets & Fitness Club to compete in the Aegon County Cup 2015. In their group they faced Dorset, Hampshire & Isle of Wight, Kent and Surrey. Each county was played in the round robin format over the weekend with three singles and one doubles rubbers followed by a shootout if required against a team. Match format was two short sets followed by a championship tiebreak if required.
Day one saw the girls entertain Dorset in their first clash. Tiana at number one dominated her opponent to win 4-1, 4-1. The Red Arrows display flying over for the Goodwood Festival of Speed did nothing to disturb the girl’s concentration and this was swiftly followed by a win for Alicia 4-1, 4-0 and finally for Evelyn digging deep to win 4-1, 5-4 giving the girls a 3-0 lead before the final doubles match played later in the day.
Next up was Surrey, thought by many to be the toughest side to beat over the weekend. All three singles were battled hard by Sussex however the opposition was just too strong with Alicia losing out 1-4, 1-4 and Evelyn 1-4, 0-4. However it was Tiana who kept the fight alive with an epic match win against Surrey’s number one player, 4-1, 3-5, 1-0.
As day one drew to a close the girls turned their thoughts to doubles with Evelyn and Josephine taking on Dorset to try for a clean sweep and Tiana and Alicia Surrey to keep the dream of coming top of the group alive. Against Dorset, Evelyn and Josephine fought hard but narrowly lost out 4-2, 2-4, 0-1 meaning Sussex beat Dorset 6-2 overall. Tiana and Alicia put everything into their match against Surrey but it was not to be and after a 1-4, 2-4 loss Sussex were beaten by Surrey 2-6 overall.
After some country road driving to avoid the traffic heading to the Festival of Speed the girls were out early practicing in advance to their matches on day two against Kent and Hampshire & IOW. First up was Kent and a solid performance put in by Tiana, Alicia and Evelyn had the girls 3-0 up against Kent before lunch. A 4-1, 4-0 win for Tiana, a tough battle for Alicia ending victoriously 4-2, 5-4 and a great win for Evelyn 5-4, 4-0.
After lunch it was on to play Hampshire & IOW. The longest match for a Sussex player at nearly two hours saw Tiana come out on top 5-4, 5-4. Alicia made it two wins out of two with a score of 4-1, 5-3. Josephine in her maiden singles match for the team lost out 1-4, 0-4 putting the score at 4-2 Sussex before the doubles.
Against Kent Evelyn and Josephine made a formidable doubles pairing coming out on top 4-2, 5-4 to take Sussex to a huge 8-0 win over the neighboring county. In the final match of the day, pressure was on Tiana and Alicia as they contested for a win to determine 2nd and 3rd place overall in the group. They did not disappoint, the girls put in a fantastic performance winning 4-1, 4-0 and took Sussex to 2nd place in the group standings behind Surrey and in front of Hampshire & IOW, Dorset and Kent.
Outside of the tennis the award for most valuable player off and on the court (voted for by the players and coaches) went to Josephine on day one and Evelyn on day two. A delicious smoothie was the prize! A big thank you goes out to the parents and families of the girls who gave fantastic (and noisy!) support over the weekend. The Sussex flag was flown high and the support undoubtedly assisted in some of the tight wins with the team feeling as if they definitely had a Davis Cup style home advantage.