Devon Girls 14 & under team competed in the reduced County Cup format in Newquay against teams from Avon and Cornwall. The Devon team consisted of six fantastic youngsters of Sophie, Maya, Elle, Amelie, Sheril and Rosie. The Fast Four match format was used, for all matches, leaving no time for any players to play themselves into a match.
The girls started against Avon, who fielded a high quality team with three of their girls ranked inside the top 100 in the Country. The girls competed well but Avon came out on top with a 5-1 win. Sophie reversed the disappointment of losing a third set match tie-break against her opponent ranked no. 32 in Great Britain, when Sophie & Maya won a tight third set tiebreak 10-7 to clinch a great doubles win.
All the girls, did themselves proud, after the disappointment of losing out against Avon. They were back on court, within minutes and bounced back to defeat the home team of Cornwall 4-2. With Sophie injured, Maya was promoted to play number one singles. Maya showed what a match competitor she is, saving match point to defeat the Cornish number one 11-9 in the third set match tie-break. Elle playing at number two singles fought back from losing the first set to take her match into a third set match tie-break, a few scorching winners though from her Cornish opponent saw Elle go down 5-10. Amelie, who last weekend represented Devon in the Girls 12 & Under Team, continued her excellent recent performance with a crushing win without losing a game, and Rosie overcame her disappointment of her first match loss against Avon to defeat her Cornish opponent comfortably as well. A great bounce back from the girls! The last match on court provided the ‘socially distanced parent spectators’, with some excellent entertainment in yet another thrilling third set match tie-break, this time the Cornish players just came out on top 10-7.
The Devon girls showed fantastic team spirit and support for each other from the first to last point played – well done girls! It’s now back to the practice courts to continue enjoying the competition and hard work and watch out, the Devon Girls Team will be ready and waiting for their next challenge!
Jo Louis – 14U Devon Team Captain