The Hampshire & IOW girls competed in Play off group 1A alongside counties; Avon, Sussex, Berkshire, Dorset and Hertfordshire.
The Team was: Liliana Mawo (1), Esther Wycherley (2), Elizabeth Nwawudu (3), Astrid Tilley (4)
Team Captains: Lottie Howard & Simon James
Scoring Format: Two Fast4 sets, with a 7-point tiebreak at 3-3. A 10-point match tiebreak was played at one set all. No-ad scoring was used throughout.
The counties were divided into two groups of three. Hampshire & IOW were in Group B with Avon and Sussex.
Day 1 vs Avon
After a gloomy week of rain and wind we were surprised to have bright sunshine ahead of us all day. Astrid & Elizabeth took to court for their singles matches. Astrid kicked us off with a convincing win against her opponent 4-1, 4-2. Whilst Elizabeth had an epic battle with her opponent, unfortunately just losing 3-4, 4-1, 8-10. 1-1 after the first round of singles. Esther & Liliana followed for their singles. Esther had a good win against her opponent 4-1,4-2. Liliana unfortunately went down in another close battle 4-3, 1-4, 10-7. 2 so 2 – 2 after the singles.
It was onto the doubles, Esther / Liliana & Astrid / Elizabeth. Both pairs competed so hard in the doubles, with Esther / Liliana walking away with a 4-1 4-2 win and Astrid / Elizabeth missing out in a 1-4, 4-2, 8-10 loss. After another split round, we were to face a shootout to decide the tie. Nominated for the shoot-out was Esther & Astrid. The shoot out was tense, as shoot-outs always are, but Avon played a good tiebreak and just got the edge over us 10-8. It was a valiant effort but, unfortunately, Avon won the overall tie 4-3.
Day 1 vs Sussex
After a tough loss to Avon and three 10-8 tiebreaks later, the girls reset and bounced back ready to face Sussex. Astrid & Elizabeth went on for their singles matches. Astrid unfortunately lost her match respectively, and Elizabeth had a great win leaving us 1-1. Esther & Liliana followed for their singles. Esther absolutely stormed through her singles, not losing a game. Liliana narrowly lost her match, leaving us 2-2 after the singles.
Liliana / Esther & Elizabeth / Astrid took to court for doubles. Both pairs gave every bit of energy they had left and that resulted in two wins! Liliana / Esther winning 4-1, 4-2 and Elizabeth / Astrid winning 4-1, 1-4, 10-5. The Hampshire & IOW girls defeated Sussex 4-2 overall, winning the tie.
Day 2 vs Hertfordshire
The girls woke up to the news that we had placed 1st in our box after a three-way tie, and were full of beans, ready and raring to go. All the girls went on for singles at the same time, which left Simon and I running around trying to keep scores & still help as best as we could.
The girls all battled so hard, with challenges and momentum changes thrown their way, they kept cool and Liliana, Esther & Astrid bagged us a win. The score after singles was 3-1 to Hampshire & IOW. Knowing we only had to win 1 more match to qualify for finals was exciting, but there was still a long way to go before that could happen.
Liliana / Esther & Elizabeth / Astrid went on for doubles. Elizabeth / Astrid unfortunately lost their doubles 3-4 3-4, however fought till the end. Liliana / Esther were exceptional and really stuck to all the goals we set out before their match. They won 4-0 4-1, sending Hampshire & IOW U11’s Girls into the National Finals!
The Hampshire & IOW 11U Girls qualified for the National Finals in Nottingham over the weekend of the 3rd – 5th July.
Simon and I were so impressed with the fighting spirit, willingness to chase every ball and positive moral from the girls this weekend. A big thank you to the parents for being so supportive and encouraging from the sidelines as well. We can’t wait to do it all again in a few weekends time!
Lottie Howard – Team Captain
