The Team was: Diana Florence, Liliana Mawo, Sophia Rutorova, Annabelle Sanders, Esther Wycherley
Team Captains: Sarah Rutherford Lottie Howard
Other Counties: Group A: Durham & Cleveland, Kent, Middlesex, Suffolk Group B: Berkshire, Essex, H&IOW, Surrey
Day 1 – lost to Surrey 1 – 5
We knew this weekend was going to be tough, we just wanted to make sure we kept fighting regardless of the score, which I can say all the girls did all weekend. Even though the score lines in some of the matches suggested otherwise, this was not the case and often the games would be going to deuce. Diana managed to get a win in her singles, with losses for Annabelle, Sophia and Liliana. In the doubles Diana paired up with Annabelle and Liliana with Esther, again after some great play and tight games, we were unable to get another win, but Surrey did go on to win the box.
Day 1 & 2 lost to Berkshire 2 -4
This was much closer, with some great battles and I felt that if that we had managed to have a little more luck on some of the big points at key moments, this could have easily been a different story. Diana had a tough match at one, losing to a very in-form Victoria. Annabelle had a great match battling point after point and never giving up, winning in two tie breaks 7-2, 7-5. Sophia and Esther managed to take their opponents to tie-breaks in the first sets but, unfortunately, couldn’t manage to take a win and then both lost the second sets. In the doubles Esther and Liliana played some great tennis with some excellent net play from both of them and managed to take the win in the 10 point tie-break at one set all, 10 – 1. Diana and Annabelle found it difficult to overcome Victoria and Hope, but did manage to take the first set to a tie-break.
Day 2 – lost to Essex 3 – 3 Shootout tie-break
We thought this could be close and it was! Liliana had a difficult match at 4 losing 1 and 0, Sophia had a marathon giving it everything, narrowly losing the first set on a tie-break 9 – 11 winning the next set on a tie break 7 – 5, but then ran out of steam for the 10 point tie-break 2- 10, Annabelle and Diana both managed to take wins in their singles, which meant we were two all going into the doubles. Diana and Annabelle managed to take the win 4 – 1, 4 – 3(5), but after a huge battle Sophia and Esther lost out 1-4, 4-3(5) 6-10. This put us at 3 – 3 in matches so we were to go to the 10 point shootout tie-break where Diana and Esther teamed up together but again after giving it everything we came away with a loss 5 -10.
Day 3 – beat Durham and Cleveland 3 – 3 Shootout tie-break
We were playing for 7th / 8th position, so we were really keen to finish the weekend with a win but knew it was going to be a tough ask. Liliana played a great match, she was really positive building the points and it paid off with her getting a win 4-2 1-4 10-4. Sophia had a difficult match which she lost 1 and 0 as did Annabelle losing 2 and 1. Diana managed to take a win against a tricky player 4-2 4-2, so 2-2 going into the doubles. We kept the same pairing as the previous day with Diana and Annabelle taking the win 4-0 4-3(3). Esther and Liliana found their opponents too strong losing 1-4 2-4, so, as in the previous day against Essex, were we going to have to have a match shootout. We partnered Diana with Liliana and they both played really well getting some great balls back into court with some really impressive net play which gave us the win 10 – 5.
The girls were very much a team on and off the court, which is really nice to see, hopefully this will help to keep them in the game for the future. Lottie and I could not have asked for more with the competitive spirit on the court and supporting each other off the court. The parents also deserve a mention, as I feel we did have the best support team out of all the counties competing over the weekend.
Sarah Rutherford – Team Captain
