The Isle of Man Over 35s Ladies Team travelled to Eastbourne last weekend to play in the LTA Ladies Over 35s County Cup. The team was Karen Faragher, Lucy Kerr (captain), Kathy Yamazaki, Tania Thomas and Kirree Ronan.
The first day was a total wash out and the courts were out of action, so all three matches had to be completed over the following two days. As a result, the matches were shortened considerably to try and get everything played.
The Manx team played Cornwall first. Kirree went down 4-2 4-1 to Sally Balsdon before Karen took the only win of the day in her singles match against Clare Hudson 4-2 4-3 (6). In the doubles, Kathy and Tania took on Hannah Brownlee and Amelia Kitchen first, followed by Sally and Clare. The Manx pair put up a good fight but lost 4-2 4-0 and 4-0 4-0 respectively. Karen and Lucy played the final rubber of the day against Sally and Clare; despite a close match, they eventually lost 4-2 0-4 9-11. This meant that the IOM lost 4-1 to the Cornish team, who were the eventual winners of the group.
On the final day, only three rubbers were played against each of the two opposing teams; two singles and a doubles.
The Isle of Man played Oxfordshire first, and beat them 3-0. Kathy played Beth Simmons and managed to navigate the windy conditions to win 4-1 4-2 before Karen went on to beat Faith Heron 4-2 4-1. Lucy and Kirree had to win two consecutive tie breaks to overcome Karen Nelson and Kathryn Schutterlin 4-3 (6) 4-3 (5).
Time was running out for the match against Cumbria, but the two singles matches were completed, both going the Isle of Man’s way. Kathy beat Kay Armer 4-1 4-1 and Karen beat Helen Case 4-0 4-0. Lucy and Kirree were enjoying a close game against Tracey Burrus and Christine Wood, but at 3-3 in the first set they unfortunately had to abandon the game as the team had to head to the train station, so Cumbria were handed the rubber. So, the match ended with a 2-1 victory to the IOM over Cumbria.
After some good performances over the weekend, the Isle of Man finished second in the group and look forward to next year’s event.