This weekend saw the 9 & Under Boys & Girls teams representing Lancashire in the LTA County Cup in Sunderland. Both teams knew if they won their group they would qualify for the North 9 & Under County Finals which are to be held in April in Loughborough.
9 & Girls Team - Captain Danielle Gallagher , Assistant Callum Baddeley
Players - Lyla Davis, Jia Kochhar, Lottie Lugr, Kendra Olowu, Ava Ormes and Ellie Stickland.
The team made the long trip to Sunderland early on Sunday morining with lots of nerves and excitement from the players. The girls knew they would play Cumbria, Durham & Cleveland & Northumberland in a mixture of singles and doubles events throughout the morning. The team got off toa great start with a 6-0 win over Northumberland which helped settle the nerves, next up was Northumberland. After some tough singles losses the girls were 1-3 down needing to win both doubles matches to get the rubber to a match shoot out to keep their hopes of qualifying for the finals alive. Some great doubles from Jia & Ava and Lottie & Ellie saw us drawing at 3-3, now down to a nailbiting shoot out which we won! We were now left playing Cumbria for a change to reach the finals, with confidence high after beating Northumberland the girls went on to win 6-0.
To the finals in Loughborough on 22nd April the girtl go, well done team!
9 & Boys Team - Captain Danielle Gallagher , Assistant Callum Baddeley
Players - Safwaan Al Fasial, Max Dutton, Arav Gupta, Benny Morris, Charlie Ouyang and Sam Wong.
The boys brimming with excitement after seeing the girls qualify took on a strong Northumberland team to start their County Cup battle, after the singles it was 2-2, the result was then 3-3 after the doubles with Safwaan and Charlie loosing a tight tie break set. Yes you guessed it a shoot out, another shoot out win for Lancashire! Next up Durham & Cleveland and similar results, 2-2 after the singles, 3-3 after the doubles, another shoot out, it wasn't to be this time Durham & Cleveland took the tie. Cumbria were our last County to play with a final 6-0 win. This meant a headache for the referee as Northumberland had beat Durham & Cleveland! The final result taking into account every set meant Northumberland won by 1 set!! Not to be for the boys but a great learning experience.
Well done to all the players, the results can be found below: