Boys U12 county cup - 13th/14th September

Our boys team of Sam, Lucas, Albert, Micah and David were in action for Norfolk at Easton Tennis Centre over the weekend for the last county cup event of the year. Led by captain Chris Stocker.

Day1:

The opening match was against Buckinghamshire, Albert and Lucas opened up for us in the singles. Both players starting a little slowly and losing their first sets on the clay courts. However, both boys did perform much better in the second, with Albert losing out in his after a thrilling last few games. Lucas saving 5 match points in the second set to then turn the match on its head and win it in a 3rd set tie break after saving two more match points! Micah and Sam then came on to try to get us ahead in the match, Micah nearly delivering this but fell just short in both sets to lose 2-4 2-4. Sam working hard without much reward playing at #1, end of the singles round 3-1 to Bucks.

In the doubles Albert and David earned some big high fives as they ground out a 3rd set victory to take our match to the final game. Unfortunately Micah and Lucas were unable to match the level that the Bucks #1 pair brought to the tie, and we ended with a 2-4 loss overall.

Our second match of the day was against Bedfordshire, Albert and Lucas opened the singles again for Norfolk. Albert was frustrated not to close out multiple sudden death deuce points, finishing the match 1-4 2-4. Lucas began a little slowly again in his first set, going down 1-4, but in typical 'cool and calm' fashion, quickly won his second set to set up another 3rd set tie break. He faced multiple match points against him again before sealing it 13-11! Micah and Sam were on next to try to give us a lead as we headed into the evening session of doubles. Micah did exactly this as he came through an incredibly close second set tie-break to win 4-1 4-3. Sam fought back in his final singles of the day to a second set tie-break, but fell just short of going to a 3rd set, losing 5-7.

In the doubles, both pairs felt the need to give captain Chris a few more grey hairs. David and Albert again winning their doubles with two tie breaks for a 4-3 4-3 win. Micah and Lucas needing a 3rd set to seal a 4-2 win to finish a long day.

4-2 to Norfolk

Day 2:

An earlier start on day two to try and complete before the forecast rain began against Suffolk. David came in for singles, with the remaining line up being Lucas, Micah and Sam. Sam and David both had very tricky opponents, who were adept at closing out the majority of points, despite some excellent play from both Norfolk players. Micah again showed some flashes of his day one levels, but fell short in a number of sudden death deuce games to lose 1-4 1-4. Leaving Lucas to battle out another epic 3 set match on court 1. This time for Lucas, despite saving more match points, he eventually ran out of luck to lose 8-10 in the 3rd.

Both doubles matches also went the way of Suffolk, with Albert and David going close in a second set tie break with the #2 pair inside.

6-0 to Suffolk

Our final opponents were Oxfordshire. We came up against a ruthless set of players who had just beaten Suffolk in a close run match on Saturday evening. Sam gave us a glimmer of hope as the rain began to fall but lost 10-6 in a hard fought match in very changeable conditions. Albert, Micah and Lucas had already lost their matches before we ran inside to complete outstanding matches indoors. The fixture was already won at 4-0.

Oxfordshire were presented their medals as winners for the weekend which were fully deserved.