9&U County Cup

Sunday 2nd March

Easton Tennis Centre

It was the Girls team to take to the court first on Sunday. Local derby against a strong Suffolk team to start the day.

All the Norfolk girls gave it everything in their matches. The closest match was Ioannas playing at number 3. With a few deuce games that could have gone either way. In the end Suffolk came out on top 4-2.

The doubles saw some great rallies with Norfolk pushing Suffolk to have to produce their best tennis. Both matches ended in 4-1 wins to Suffolk.

Next up for the girls was Bedfordshire. Excellent wins for Anastasia, Ioanna, Alice and Esmee put Norfolk up 4-0.

Esmee and Alice teamed up well make it 5 wins. With Betsy and Anastasia getting the job done in a tricky tiebreak to finish off an impressive 6-0 win overall.

Cambridge was the girls last match of the day. Betsy put up a good fight at number 4 with some impressive points. Eventually losing 4-1. Alice and Ioanna found themselves up against two tough opponents. Both girls taking multiple games to deciding deuce points.

When Esmee took to the court Norfolk were 3-0 down. Esmee put on an excellent display playing Cambridgeshire’s number 1. Impressively winning 4-0. This meant the tie was still alive going into the doubles.

Alice and Esmee once again teamed up. The match had a mix of volley exchanges and rallies from the back of the court. With Alice and Esmee winning without the loss of a game. To take the tie to a shootout Betsy and Ioanna needed to pull out a win. Unfortunately, after a closely fought match Cambridgeshire took the win and overall tie.

The Girls gave it everything on court. Couldn’t have asked for more from them. Overall, a good mix of some great wins and valuable experience to take to future events.

It was the Boys turn in the afternoon session. With the order of matches following the same schedule as the girls.

This meant that once again Suffolk were up first for Norfolk. Aksel and Barnaby were up first in the singles. Aksel putting in a great display winning 4-0. Barnaby found himself in one of the longest matches of the day. Suffolk edging a close match winning 10-8 in the tiebreak.

Oliver and Henry were up next playing at 1 and 2. Henrys match was dominated by some big serves from both sides. Henry taking the match 4-2. Olivers match was extremely close. At 2-2 and deuce the boys had a rally that lasted upwards of 40 shots with it only to end on a net cord in Norfolk’s favour! Oliver then closed the match out in the next game.

For the doubles Ben came into partner Barnaby and Oliver and Henry teamed up. Both matches were closely fought with Norfolk having the slight upper hand in both games. This meant Norfolk won the tie 5-1.

For the match against Bedfordshire Ben and Aksel played the first two singles. Aksel kept up his unbeaten run winning 4-0. Ben found himself against a strong opposition to mean the tie was 1-1. Wins for Henry and Oliver meant that Norfolk were up going into the doubles.

The boys played some great doubles to take both matches and making it another 5-1 win.

The last match of the day was against Cambridgeshire. Both teams were unbeaten which meant it was straight shootout to see who would progress to the next stage.

Aksel and Barnaby put up good performances narrowly losing 4-1 and 4-2. Henry put Norfolk on the board with a win using his ability to finish points at the net. Olivers game at number 1 could have gone either way with nearly every game heading to deciding deuce.

This meant Norfolk needed to win both doubles to force a shootout. Teams of Henry and Oliver and Ben and Barnaby took to the courts. For any neutrals they were both excellent doubles matches. For Norfolk supporters I’m sure some rallies had people on the edge of seats! Both matches ended in tiebreaks with Henry and Oliver winning and Barnaby and Ben losing 7-4.

All the boys represented Norfolk amazingly well on the day. Only missing out on progressing by the narrowest of margins! Special mention to the great support from the team to one another.