A delightful journey to Hull, a place never ventured to, so something to look forward too. We set off at 10 am from Winchester so we could have a practice session at Nuffield Tennis Academy late afternoon.

The Team was:      ​Emma Bebbington, Lana Benson, Freya Jones, Lena Kudkla, Tobechi Nwawudu, Evie Pate, Jasmine Paul, Leena Sunil

Team Captains:    ​Debbie Hale and Lisa Hanley

Day 1 vs Sussex 

Lana at 6 faced a solid opponent but competed much better in the 2nd set.  Tobechi at 5 stormed to a great lead winning the 1st set 6-1 to then have a difficult 2nd set, but found her form again to take the 3rd set 6-4.  Freya at 4 also battled hard narrowly losing the 1st set 4-6, but played a smart 2nd set and won it 7-5, and then stormed to a strong finish taking the win 6-2.  Emma at 3 went on to face a tough opponent winning a long match 3-6 7-6 7-6, great resilience shown from Emma.  Leena at 2 was competing tough and snuck the 1st set 7-5 to then be locked in a battle, but her opponent was forced to retire at 3-2.  Evie at 1, competing against a high national ranked player, had a fight on her hands, winnable but it depended on who took the clutch points.  Evie lost 2-6 6-3 4-6 so that meant after the singles we were 4-2 up, needing to win one doubles match to take the win on day 1.

Lana and Tobechi partnered up but lost to a good pair 6-1 6-4.  Freya and Leena teamed up well taking the 1st set 6-3 but the tough Sussex pair took the 2nd set, so we had a championship tie-break, which we lost 6-10.  This meant we were now relying on Evie and Emma who knew it was on them to get the win for the day, and it was a closely fought match which Emma and Evie won 6-4 7-5.

A great 5-4 win on day 1.

Day 2 – Northumberland

Jasmine at 6 was making her 18U  County Cup debut.  Jasmine had a nervy start and her impressive opponent stormed to a 6-1 lead.   Jasmine then found her feet and worked out some great tactics to take the match to 3 sets winning 6-2 and 6-3 – a great display of figuring it out and working hard.

Tobechi at 5 had another 3-setter for the team.  Tobechi played some smart tennis taking the 1st set 6-2, for her opponent then to come back strong and take the 2nd set.  Into the 3rd set and Tobechi was confident but needed to find her form, which she did and got a 6-2 win.

Freya at 4 wanted to win more comfortably on the second day.  That was her aim and she was very impressive winning 2 &1.   Emma at 3 continued her winning form taking a 6-1 6-1 win.

Leena and Evie were faced with very tough opposition (ranked 18U number 21 and 9 in the country) and these girls had definitely earned their ranking. They were unbeatable all weekend with their firepower, decision making and athleticism.  Unfortunately our girls lost 0-6, 1-6 and 0-6, 2-6. Both tried to compete, but something to work on towards next year.

So we were 4-2 up for the second day going into the doubles.  We played tactically knowing they would play 1 & 2 together, so we changed up our pairs:  Freya and Tobechi at 3 pair, Lana and Evie at 2.  With the girls on court and taking the lead, it was Lena’s chance to step forward for her first match, albeit a very tough first match against their no.1 pair.

Freya and Tobechi took a tough doubles 4&3.  Evie and Lana secured a quick victory 0&1 so we won the day 6-3.

Day 3 – Yorkshire – for promotion

We kept the team the same and knew it would be a tough day as Yorkshire had lots of depth and all were ranked in the top 150.

Jasmine fought hard in the 1st set and lost a tight 6-3 and her opponent gained momentum to take the 2nd 6-2.  Tobechi unfortunately was outplayed although she tried hard.  Freya embraced the challenge and had a close 7-5 1st set and lost to an older, more experienced player 6-2.  Emma showed character but unfortunately took a 2-6, 1-6 defeat.  Leena battled hard losing the first set 3-6 to turn it around in the second and take the set 6-3 to conquer her opponent in the 3rd 6-0.  Evie was in a close match but it didn’t go her way, so we lost the singles 5-1 and that meant we had lost the day, but played the doubles.

Lena and Tobechi enjoyed their match and Emma and Lana teamed up and again and had fun and were competitive, but both pairs lost.  The first pair doubles wasn’t played so the end of match result was 1-7.  This meant we came second in the Group.

The overall weekend was well run by the referee, David Kitchen, the facility was good and our team was keen, learnt and fought hard. We had a nice environment on and off the court and it was great to stay in Group 3.

Debbie Hale – Team Captain