The Team was: Liliana Mawo, Elizabeth Nwawudu, Astrid Tilley, Esther Wycherley

Team Captains:  Sarah Rutherford and Isla Hignett

Other counties:  Essex, Kent and Sussex

Day 1 match 1 v Essex

Our first match was v Essex and all the matches were very competitive and even if the score seemed one sided, the games were very close.  After the singles, we were drawing 2 – 2, Astrid managed to win a very close battle 1-4, 4-3(3) 10-7 with some great serving, and Esther staying positive and calm won 4-2 4-1.  Liliana and Elizabeth battled well, but their opponents were just too strong on the day.  Liliana and Esther paired up leaving Elizabeth and Astrid to join forces.  Unfortunately Essex were too strong on the doubles court with their net play and court positioning being a little more advanced than ours.  Hampshire & IOW lost 2 -4

Day 1 match 2 v Sussex

This was on paper going to be a close battle, all the matches were well fought with some excellent rallies,  the girls showed great focus making sure they were being consistent with serves and returns, asking questions of their opponents.  Lilianna had a marathon battle after losing the first set on a tie-break she came back to win the match in a match tiebreak saving 4 match points in the process.  After the singles we were 3 – 1 up, so still needed another win in the doubles to avoid a shootout.  The girls came out fighting, with both pairs winning comfortably.  Hampshire and IOW won 5 – 1

Day 2 v Kent

Kent were going to be the toughest team to beat with strength and depth in the squad, but we were up for the challenge.   All the singles were close in the games but just on the bigger points Kent were able to up their level, make that extra ball into court which ended up with us losing that game.  Elizabeth’s defending skills and determination to stay in the rally were great and she was often having rallies of 18 plus, but even that was unable to get us a win, so after the singles we were losing 4 – 0.  We changed the doubles pairing around and Elizabeth was now with Esther and Liliana joined forces with Astrid.  Again some great points were played with our net play being much improved as the weekend progressed.  Astrid and Liliana did manage to get a win which was great.  Hampshire and IOW lost 1 -5.

The weekend was overall a positive one with all the players taking away something to work on, and we as a county still need to keep on encouraging the girls to play doubles more during the year.  A special mention has to go the parents who were excellent and the best supporters at the event by far.

Sarah Rutherford – Team Captain