Our 10 & Under Girls team had a great weekend at the County Cup National Finals - North after qualifying at Chatsworth Tennis Centre, Carlise in May. The event saw the top 5 Counties in the North compete against each other for the title.
10 & Under Girls
Captain: Sarah Hillier Assistant Captain: Ella Taylor
Team Amarachi Ikem, Jia Kochhar, Esha Kumar, Chloe Lau and Vanessa Zelca.
The team amde the long drive to Boston, Lincolnshire on Friday evening knowing that the competition was going to be tough. The teams first match on Saturday morning was against local rivals Yorkshire, 2 match tie break wins from Amarachi & Vanessa followed by wins from Chloe and Esha gave us a unasalable lead after the singles. Yorkshire's first doubles pair were strong but our 2nd pair got the win to finish the tie 5-1. A great start for the Lancashire girls. Next up Nottinghamshire which turned out to be our toughest match. 2 wins and 2 loses in singles meant it was all down to the doubles! Our first pair lost one of the singles in a second set tie break meaning our 2nd pair needed to win to force a shoot out and keep our hopes of becoming Champions alive! Chloe and Jia won the 1st set 4-1 but Notts fought back to win the second set 4-3 meaning it was all down to a match tie break which Lancs won 10-7 after some gutsy play from the girls. 3-3, a match shoot out to decide the winners. The captains chose Amarchi and Chloe to play in the doubles shoot and with nerves of steel the girls went on to win! Our hopes of becoming champions were still alive!
Sunday, we knew we ahd to beat Warwickshire who were currently infront of us in the table. A great start in the singles from Vanessa, Chloe and Esha saw us 3-1 up after the singles. We then played our singles against North of Scotland which we knew although bottom of the table would be tough, must win matches. Again 3-1 up after the singles! 4 doubles matches to play and we knew to win the title we needed to win 1 against each County. First up Warwickshire and 2 match tie breaks, Jia and Chloe lost 10-6 in the tie break but Amarachi and Vanessa got the win 11-9! Last matches of the weekend against North of Scotland, 1 win needed to take the title. Amarachi and Chloe won in 2 straight sets, Jia and Vanessa were still battling it out and didn't know that we had won, they pulled off a impressive 12-10 win in the match tie break.
Lancashire are Champions, a great effort from all the girls, parents and captains after a great weekend of close matches. Well done everyone!
10 & Under Girls National Finals Results