12U Girls County Cup Report
My team of Mya, Lois, Emma and Maely had a very early start on the Saturday morning, up against, on paper one of the strongest teams there (and eventual winners) Derbyshire.
Emma and Maely, both playing in their first U12 county event, started a little nervously but both settled down very quickly and took comfortable wins. A great start to the day!
Mya and Lois followed on against two very capable players. It was a very tough couple of matches, although the scores looked heavily in Derbyshires favour, our girls fought hard and made every game in each set a battle. Maely/Mya and Emma/Lois then went on for some big doubles matches! Maely and Mya faced off against Derbyshires numbers 1 and 2, although the 1st set was tough they both really responded in the 2nd set and gave the opponents a really tough time, unfortunately missing out 2-4.
Emma and Lois took on the Derbyshire number 2 pair and played tough, hard, tight tennis throughout their close match. After a tight first set ending in a tie break the girls showed there character by winning the tie break 7-3. They then raised their game again in the 2nd set to win the match 4-3 4-2. That took us into a shootout, Mya and Lois lined up for us, the match tie break is a really hard format, especially when so much hangs on it. We just didn’t get up to speed quickly enough and theres no time to make up for it. Had it been a longer format I’m confident our girls would have found their feet and given the Derbyshire girls a real test. But unfortunately we missed out in this one.
After a short break we then faced Shropshire.
Maely and Emma were on first. Mealy played a girl we named ‘The Brick Wall’ and she had to hit twice or three times as many shots to win a point than she would normally. Maely stuck to her difficult task and won. Emma at number three had a great win, comfortably out playing her opposition. Lois and Mya went on to face their opposing numbers. Mya dominated her player getting a strong win, blasting her away in the first set and after a small comeback in the 2nd set finished it off well. Lois started a bit slowly against her opponent, losing the 1st set 0-4. She then showed great character and determination to come back a different player in the 2nd set, win it and then go on to win the 3rd. Having won all the singles, we went into the doubles already having won the match. So the girls were asked to try and show some different styles in the doubles to try and expand their games. We finished winning 5-1 overall.
Back on court on the Sunday morning we faced H&W in the 3/4 playoff. Emma and Maely were first on in their singles. Maely had a tough opponent, who like her previous one gave very few mistakes away, so every point was hard earned. After winning a tight 1st set Maely went on to win the 2nd well. Emma played a very strong player at number 3, she looked composed and very solid. Emma worked really hard and played some good tennis, but the opposition was just a little strong on this occasion.
Lois and Mya followed on, and played their best tennis of the weekend. Beating good opponents reasonably easily and taking our lead to 3-1 after the singles.
I changed the pairs for the doubles for this match. Playing my numbers 1/2 and 3/4 together. I was hoping for one win to put us over the edge. Both pairs started a bit slowly, understandably a little nervous. After losing the 1st sets both pairs then both bounced back really well to take the 2nd sets. This led to two match tie breaks. Mya and Lois had a close loss with the set swinging between each pair. However H&W just came out on top. Emma and Maelys match tie break was I bit crazy, our girls falling 9-5 behind but managing to pull it back to 9-9. This match was a flip of the coin and this time it went to the opposition 11-13.
In the shootout Mya and Emma, played some amazing tennis, fighting, being aggressive, it had so much going on. In the end H&W won it 7-10 but both girls should be proud of their efforts.
Overall, it was a case of so near! Derbyshire went on to win the event fairly easily against Leicestershire and I’m confident we would have done the same. Missing out on two wins after shootouts is hard, but I think its fantastic we performed well enough to get there in the first place.
As always with this group they were a pleasure to captain, they were fantastic both on and off court. Fair, respectful and very competitive. Great bunch!
Steve Morris
