Over the weekend of the 10th/11th May Norfolk under 10’s boys travelled to Woodbridge to compete at county cup with a team consisting of Matthew at 1, Henry at 2, Oliver at 3, Joshua at 4 and Dexter at 5. Facing teams such as Essex, Bedfordshire and Suffolk it was going to be a weekend of high standard tennis.
Norfolk’s first fixture was against Suffolk. Joshua and Oliver went onto court first and both played some fantastic tennis. After saving 3 match points Joshua managed to get a with in the 3rd set tiebreaker and Oliver after a few really tight sudden death deuce games unfortunately couldn’t convert the match. After watching the high standard of singles played Matthew and Henry stepped onto court ready to battle for each point and that’s what they did Henry winning a tight first set in a set tiebreak saving 6 set points and then winning a convincing second set 4:0. Matthew unfortunately put his best efforts in but couldn’t quite get a hold in the match. So it was 2:2 going into doubles. Matthew and Joshua at number 2 won in a 3 sets and Henry and Oliver lost in 3 sets leading into a shootout. Unfortunately Joshua and Henry couldn’t quite make it over the line and lost 11:9 in a very close fixture against Suffolk leaving the final score 4:3 to Suffolk.
Next was Essex and this time Dexter made his appearance along with Oliver again. Both putting up excellent efforts however those fixtures went Essex’s way but not without Oliver taking a set from them. Henry and Matthew came on next and Henry put in his best efforts but it wasn’t to be however Matthew managed to respond well to coaching and got a win at number 1 to keep the fixture alive going into the doubles. The pairings of Joshua and Matthew and Henry and Oliver couldn’t quite manage to string enough points together to get the wins however so this left the final score against Essex at 5:1.
On the last day Norfolk faced Bedfordshire. Joshua and Oliver were up first and they were clinical. Neither of them dropping a game and winning 4:0 4:0. Henry was on next and his result was the same. Matthew was last on and unfortunately after a tight 3 set match that rubber went Bedfordshire’s way. Into the doubles the pairing of Henry and Oliver pulled through a tight first set to win the match 4:3 4:2 and Dexter and Joshua again knuckled down and got the job done winning 4:0 4:0. So the fixture ended 5:1 to Norfolk.
All in all a very positive weekend for the Norfolk boys finishing 3rd and very close to finishing 2nd. The boys all responded well to on court feedback and acted in a mature manner on court. They should hold their heads high coming away from this weekend after playing some great tennis and being competitive in every match.
