14U Girls National Finals Report
The girls 14 and under team of Anna, Oli, May, Aditi and Zoe qualified for the National Finals and joined the teams of Surrey, Lancashire, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Suffolk, Dorset and Essex for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday on a sunny weekend in Nottingham to contest the finals.
The counties were divided into two groups with each team playing all the other counties in their group and then playing off against the opposite numbered team in the other group on the Sunday for the final positions.
Cambridgeshire were in a group with Lancashire, Hertfordshire and Surrey.
First up on the Friday were Lancashire. Unfortunately, our number two player Oli had a GCSE exam and couldn’t get to Nottingham until the evening so we were slightly weakened but the rest of the team were really excited and motivated to give of their best.
The match format was best of three FAST4 sets with the third set a match tiebreak to 10 points.
Zoe started off at number 4 playing Ruby Williams and Aditi at number 3 against Naimah Grant. Zoe had a good start winning the first game but then her opponent got into the match and started to play more aggressively and took the first set 4/1. Zoe then played more confidently in the second set which was even until 2/2 and then Zoe had a nasty fall but to her credit battled on and managed to take this set to a tiebreak which she won 7/2. So, the match then went into a 10-point tie which Zoe wasn’t quite able to win and lost 5-10 – great battle though. Aditi on the adjoining court started off very well and went 3/1 up with some solid play only for her opponent to pull this back to 3/3 and a tiebreak which Naimah won 7/4. The second set was equally as close and went to a tiebreak and although Aditi fought hard to get 7/6 up, she couldn’t quite clinch the tiebreak and lost it 7/9 and the match 3/4 and 3/4 leaving us 0/2 down in matches.
Next up was May playing at number 2 against Leslieba Inko-Tariah. May played very aggressively to start with and took a commanding 4/0 first set lead. Her opponent then started to make more balls and sneaked the second set 4/2. The match went into a 10-point tiebreak when May raised her level again with her aggressive baseline game and won the tiebreak 10-3 which meant even if we lost the number one singles, we were still in the match going into the doubles.
Anna at number one had a great game with April Sackflame and played a good first set which she won 4/1. April then started to get a lot of balls back and Anna made a few too many errors so April won the next set 4/1 to take the match into another match tiebreak. The tiebreak was very close until 5 points each and then April just got the upper hand and started to attack Anna’s serve and just pipped her 10-6 to take the match. So, after the singles Cambs were 3/1 down.
After a break the 2 doubles matches went on with Anna and Aditi at pair one and May and Zoe at pair two.
Anna and Aditi played a really good match against April and Naimah and won this 4/1, 4/2 to keep the match alive. May and Zoe lost the first set on a tiebreak 4/7 but fought their way back to win the second set 4/0 and into another match tiebreak. They went 8/5 up only to play too passively and were caught at 8/8 and then went 8/9 down to 9/9, to 9/10 but them won 3 points in a row to take the match 12-10.
Shoot out here we come with the score 3 matches each. Anna and May played the shoot out and were level until 6 all but then Lancs just nudged ahead and held their nerve to win 10-6 – oh so close and great effort from the Cambs team.
After a short rest Cambs then played the singles against Herts in the next match. Cambs were still without Oli Kaser who was coming late on Friday so we played the same singles line-up as we did against Lancashire.
Zoe got the team off to a great start against Ellie Davey who trains with Over and In at Hills Road winning her match 4/0, 4/0. Next up was Aditi at number three against Ava-Rose Moy. Aditi made too many errors in the first set and lost this 4/2 but came back strongly in the second to take it to a tiebreak which she won 7/5 and then into the match tiebreak where she went 4/2 up only to then go 4/6 down but Aditi steadied herself and got back to 6/6, 7/6, 7/7, 8/7, 8/8. 9/8 and then clinched it 10/8 to give Cambs a 2/0 match lead. May had a tough match at number two against Lilia Saad and went down 2/4, 3/4 (6) after a really tough battle with several really good hard hitting and long rallies but in the end too many errors.
It was left to Anna at number one against Aduago Nwogu to give Cambs an overnight lead which she did winning with an impressive 4/1, 4/1 win.
Day 2 Saturday – Cambs finished off their match with Herts starting the day off with the doubles. With Oli now available she played with Anna as first pair and May and Aditi playing second pair and allowing Zoe to rest after her fall the day before. The pairings worked out very well. Anna and Oli played some positive, attacking doubles and combined very well with some strong net play to beat Aguago and Lilia 4/3, 4/0. The first set was very close and Cambs came back from 2/3 down to take the tiebreak 7/4 and then dominated the second set and won this comfortably 4/0.
May and Aditi played a solid game using their powerful groundstrokes against Ava-Rose and Charleigh Guyatt and were at 2/2 in each set but then played two good games each set to win 4/2, 4/2 and take the tie 5 matches to 1. A great win for Cambs.
The next match was against Surrey who had beaten both Herts and Lancashire comfortably. We played this indoors in the bubble – it wasn’t as hot as we anticipated though.
The line up was 4. Aditi; 3. May; 2 Oli and 1. Anna. Although overall Cambs did not win any rubbers – each and every match had at least one set which went to a tiebreak so all the team were competitive in each match and represented the county with great pride and determination and every match was great to watch and be involved in.
Aditi got the team off to a competitive start against Lyla Read and managed to get to a 3/3 tiebreak in the first set although her opponent then had too much firepower and won this 7/2. Aditi was still competitive in the second set and lost this 2/4.
May played against a strong opponent in Hermione Korpanec-Davies and took her to a 3/3 tiebreak in the first set before losing this 1/7 and then the second set 1/4. There were some excellent points and May was made to work hard for each and every point she won.
Next up were Oli and Anna. Oli played Lucy Bear who was a difficult opponent and she had to keep calm. Again, there were some great rallies and Oli put together some really good points and had an excellent second set but just lost out 1/4 and 3/4 (8) in the tiebreak.
Anna was the only player to get a set in the overall tie with against Katie Randall (who she plays doubles with). This was another hard-fought battle for each and every point. Katie came out on top 4/1, 3/4 10-5 to keep Surrey a passage into the final.
The girls came out fighting in the doubles with Anna resting the pairings were Oli and Aditi at pair one and May and Zoe at pair two. Oli and Aditi had a really good tussle against Katie and Emily Jaggers and just lost 4/2, 4/3 and then May and Zoe competed really well but lost out to Hermione and Audrina Neelado 4/2, 4/3.
Overall, as captain l was really proud of the team as they did play well, fought hard and overall competed really well. If we had won some of the tiebreaks who knows …!
Day 3 Sunday – Cambs ended up playing for fifth and sixth position and we were up against Dorset.
The team got off to a good start with the numbers 4 – Aditi and number 3 – May taking to the court against Sayuri Chigwa (4) and Sophie Morris (3). May sailed through the first set 4/0 and looked to be cruising but as is the case with FAST 4 matches they can change very quickly and suddenly she was 0/3 down in the second set with a few too many errors but all credit to May she started to attack the ball again and came back to 3/3 and a tiebreak where she held her nerve and won this 7/5 to get the team off to a winning start. Aditi on the next court also started strongly and went 3/0 up only for her opponent to then become more consistent and pull back to 3/2 and then it went to a deuce point in the next game – 3/3 point or set point! With an extended rather nervy rally Aditi took the point and set 4/2. Sayuri had clearly played her way into the match now and won the second set easily 4/0. Aditi was getting frustrated and making too many errors – so it went into a match tiebreak. Aditi went 2/4 down at the first change of ends but regrouped and they changed again at 6/6. She then went 8/6 up but got nervous and too pushy 8/7, 8/8, 9/8 up, 9/9 and then played a good point 10/9 and finally clinched it 11/9 – so Cambs were 2/0 up.
Next up were Oli and Anna. Oli playing Freya Matthew dominated the first set with the new balls and some aggressive ground stroked and won this 4/1. She was 40-0 up in the next game only to lose this and following game to go 0/2 down – too many unforced errors and frustration creeping in. She went 3/1 down but pulled back to 3/3 and a tiebreak. The tie break was also a roller-coaster as Oli went 5/2 up only to be pegged back and 6/7 down but battled well just missing out 8/10 – so it was set all! To her credit Oli got herself together and played a good match tie break which she won 10-3 giving the County a 3/0 match lead.
Anna playing against Iraja Nigam played a very solid match and showed us her all-round skills of being able to vary her play but also her consistency from the baseline as she took the first set 4/0. Iraja came back strongly and took a 2/0 lead in the second set, but Anna regrouped with some sensible, solid play to take the next 4 games and close the match out 4/0, 4/2. This gave Cambs a winning 4/0 lead after the singles.
In the doubles Anna and Oli teamed up and beat Freya and Iraja with some good quality net play and cross court discipline and won convincingly 4/1, 4/1.
Zoe teamed up with May against Poppy-Kate Ellis and Sienna Randell. They went 0/3 down and Zoe’s knee was clearly hurting (we debated whether she should retire) but she and May battled on and came back to 3/3 and a tiebreak. They went 5/2 up and then got a bit nervous but came through 8/6. After another debate they decided May would do all the running and Zoe just do her bit if the ball came to her. They won the next set 4/0! Great team effort.
Overall Cambs beat Dorset 6/0 and so finished 5th in the finals. Two wins, a shoot out, and one loss to the eventual winners – so a really pleasing and enjoyable weekend. The team represented the county with great credit and fighting spirit and were a pleasure to captain.
Thanks to the parents for all the transporting and support.
Sue Rich
