After last years washout the under 9 team travelled to Manor Park in Malvern and fortunately the weather was a lot more favourable this year. The team arrived at 8:30am to familiarise themselves with the surroundings and to get on court to warm up.
We started off against Hereford and Worcester and got off to a good start going in 5-1 up after the singles. Some solid displays in the boy’s doubles, mixed doubles and girls doubles eventually saw us come out on top 8-1 in matches.
We received similar results against Gloucestershire winning 7-2 and Shropshire also 7-2. It was then left to the decider against a strong Staffordshire team. Charlie Watson and Maria Timms both came from a set down to record impressive singles wins to ensure we went 2-0. Will Smith dicatated from the off to win in straight sets at number 2 whislt Roksana Piotrowska lost a very close match in 3 sets. This left us 3-1 up with 2 tough matches ahead. Harry Lazell played superbly well controlling the match and showing excellent net play to win in straight sets and Mia Faulkener continued this success through some great serving to win 7-0 in the deciding set.
This gave us an impressive 5-1 lead going into the doubles. The good combination of Will and Harry continued to get the job done wining in 3 sets, Mia and Charlie won in straights sets whilst Roksana and Maria lost a closely fought third set.
Warwickshire therefore won the decideder 7-2 in matches which capped of a excellent day special mention must go to Harry, Will and Mia who were all exceptional in winning all 8 out of 8 matches. This was the player’s first experience of a county cup and I thought the atmosphere and spirit through the team was excellent. A special mention must also go to the travelling parents who really got behind the team and helped create this strong team spirit.
Well done team and lets look forward to seeing you next year for the under 10 County Cup.
Matt Thomas