Successful Summer County Week for the Hampshire & IOW County Teams!
This year’s Summer County Cup was held from Monday 18th – Friday 22nd July and our Ladies were in Group 1 at Eastbourne.
The Ladies’ won on three out of the five days and finished 3rd staying in Group 1 for another year.
Ladies’ Report from Sue Espley, Ladies’ Captain:
The team was: Esther Adeshina, Freya Davies, Debbie Hale, Lisa Hanley, Charlotte Howard. Harriet Jones, Taro Keens, Aisling Mcgrane, Hannah Smith
Reserve Michelle Dutton
Team Captain: Sue Espley
The other counties in the division were: Hertfordshire, Kent, Northumberland, Surrey, Yorkshire
Day 1 vs Northumberland
The team was: Hannah and Freya, Harry and Taz, Esther and Lottie
The Northumberland team had 3 strong pairs. Our team were struggling with a number of injuries, which weakened our competitive edge. However, Hannah and Freya managed two wins and a tie break 3rd set against their first pair. Harry and Taz sadly lost a close third set tie break against their 3rd pair in the second round. Aisling came in for Esther in the 2/3 rounds, but sadly our third pair also didn’t manage to win any rubbers, although they had a good battle against the Northumberland 1st pair in the last round. End of day result 7-2 to Northumberland.
Day 2 vs Kent
The team was: Freya and Hannah, Harry and Taz, Esther and Debbie
Freya and Hannah had a great day winning all three matches. Esther and Debbie played 2 rounds and also won both matches. Harry and Taz had a 3rd set tie break in their first round but sadly was not able to convert to the win. For round 3 we changed the 2nd pair to Taz and Lottie who had a great win in 3rd set tie break. Aisling came in with Debbie for the 3rd round.
A good day winning 6-3.
Day 3 vs Yorkshire
The team was: Hannah and Freya, Lisa and Harry, Taz and Lottie
Hannah and Freya and Lisa and Harry had a great day winning all three rounds. Taz and Lottie had a very close first round match losing in the tie break third set. Debbie and Esther came on as the 3rd pair for the final round and also managed to win. Final day result 7-2 to Hampshire & IOW.
Day 4 vs Surrey
The team was: Freya and Hannah, Lisa and Harry, Esther and Debbie
Freya and Hannah fought very hard to win all three matches. Lisa and Harry managed a win in the first round. Esther and Debbie lost a very close third set tie break in their second match.
Taz came in and played with Esther in the third round and won. End of day result 5-4 win.
Day 5 vs Hertfordshire
The team was: Hannah and Freya, Lisa and Harry, Lottie and Aisling
Hannah and Freya had an epic first round match losing the 3rd set tie break 15-13 to the Herts 1st pair who were on 12 out of 12 matches at the beginning of the day. Debbie then came in to replace Freya with Hannah and were winning when the rain came. Herts conceded this match.
Harry and Lisa also lost in the tie break third set in their first match. Due to the rain, the Herts team conceded two matches in the final round as they had already won the division. However, Harry and Lisa played the last round against the Herts 1st pair who wanted to try and get 15 out of 15, which they did. End of day result 6-3 to Hertfordshire.
The overall result of the division was: 1st Hertfordshire, 2nd Northumberland, 3rd Hampshire and IOW, 4th Surrey, 5th Yorkshire, 6th Kent.
I was so proud of the team’s performance during the week. We had to manage injuries and unavailability of three of our top players, along with searing temperatures, and we still managed 3rd place, which was incredible.
We have such a great team spirit and can’t wait to have another go next year.
