This year’s 14U Boys County Cup was held over the weekend of 29th and 30th April in Group 2C at Taunton Tennis Club.
The Team was: Ben Coxon, Samuel Fussell, Zachary Kleiner, Daniel Rutorov, Edwin James Vopson, Scott Yates
Team Captains: James Neate and Charlie Farres
Other Counties: Group A: Cornwall, H&IOW and Somerset, Group B: Avon, Wiltshire and Channel Islands
The 11U – 14U County Cup events are being organised slightly differently for 2023 with the top ranked six counties gaining direct entry to the Finals. The next top ranked 8 counties were in Divisions 1a and 1b with play-offs to determine which counties progressed to the Finals. All the other counties were in Division 2 groups which is a one-off event with group winners and the counties do not progress to the finals.
Day 1 – Match 1 – Cornwall
Our first match was against Cornwall. The team had a good start with our number 4 Daniel beating their number 4 4-0,4-0. Our number 3 Edwin lost the first set on a tiebreak after a nasty fall and was saying he wanted to retire. Fortunately, after a pep talk, he then endeavoured to win the next set 4-0, followed by a win in the match tiebreak. Our number 2 player, Ben, put up a good fight but unfortunately lost in straight sets, but not without going to a tiebreak in the first set. Our number 1 player, Samuel, won the first set easily and despite having a little wobble at the start of the next set, came through in straight sets, meaning that we were 3-1 up after the singles. In the doubles we managed to win at number 1 pair with Sam and Daniel winning a tiebreak first set followed by a 4-0 second set. Ben played with Scott at 2 and after losing the first set in a tiebreak they managed to come back and win in a match tiebreak, which was great as it meant we won the first match 5-1.
Match 2 – Somerset
Our second match followed on very quickly from the first. We played the same order other than putting Zach at 4. Sam, Edwin and Daniel all won in straight sets and, unfortunately, Zach lost in 3 tiebreak sets. So we were once again 3-1 up after the singles and had given Ben a rest after his 2 tough matches. In the doubles we rested Dan, Ben and Edwin managed to win at pair 1 in a match tiebreak and Sam played with Scott and they won easily which gave us another 5-1 win.
Day 2 – Play-off v Avon
In the play-off to win the event, we had to play Avon who had won their box the previous day without losing a rubber and the teams looked very evenly matched on paper. We decided to play our top 4 in rankings order, and we were 4-0 up and had won the match after the singles. Sam won the first set easily and had a bit of a dip in the second set but winning the match tiebreak as the last match won the tie for us, so he was very pleased. Ben performed heroics and was 3-0 down in the first set but an inspirational chat from his coach Charlie helped him turn the match around and he showed great grit and courage eventually winning in straight sets. Edwin won easily and his performance had dramatically improved since the first set of his first match with his forehand on fire. Dan recovered from a slow start and not being able to properly move on the surface to playing some great stuff. As we had already won the match, we decided to play Scott and Zach as the second doubles pair and they lost out, but Ben and Dan played well at 1 pair to give us another 5-1 win. So we had come 1st in the event. The team received medals and we were all very happy.
The County Cup was a really good experience for the team. The team spirit was without doubt the best of any county there. The meals we had together really enriched the team spirit, which shows from our result and improvement in the second day.
James Neate
14U Boys County Captain
