9U County Cup Report

Boys team: 

• Monty 
• James 
• Hoalin 
• Evan 

Girls team 

• Rio  
• Emily 
• Nancy 
• Isla 

Coaches: Josh Crossley and Billy Groves 

9U Girls

Luckily it was a shorter trip than last year with us only having to travel to Gloucestershire and the girls were up first. 

We had Surrey, Gloucestershire and Buckinghamshire in our group. 

Surrey were up first and as we know from previous experience they were going to be tough opposition. We lost 6-0 but the girls did a fantastic job of getting themselves into each match and trying to impose their tennis onto their opponent. Isla playing a really good first match. 

Emily and Rio played doubles together and were superb right from the off, their communication and net position was excellent. 

Secondly, were Gloucestershire who were a great match for us. It allowed the girls to use their strengths and look to dominate the court. They all played superbly well and we won 6-0 overall only dropping 1 game in the doubles. 

Lastly, Buckinghamshire were our final opponents with some extremely close matches. Nancy fought extremely hard and hit a couple of lovely winners down the line when on the run but couldn’t  quite get it over the line losing in a tie break. Then Isla on the next court along fighting hard against a very consistent player managing to win 7-3 in a tie break. 

Emily and Rio came flying out of the blocks and didn’t give their opponents a chance taking both wins. This meant it all came to the doubles for 2nd place, both pairs were extremely focused and were extremely sensible in their decision making especially when at the net. Both pairs won and only dropping 2 games between both matches was a great way to finish the day in 2nd place! 

9U Boys

The boys then came on and after a very quick warm up they were up for the fight. A quick pep talk about Surrey and what they can do to use the match to help them throughout the day and they did a superb job. The opposition were very skilled, utilising all of the court and it was a great experience for our boys. We lost all of the matches but the boys gave it their all. 

Gloucestershire were 2nd up and it was a close match from the start. Monty and Haolin played some smart tennis against players who barely made a mistake and got two wins on the board. Evan then played a fantastic match at number 2 taking a win in a tie break. James had an extremely tough opponent who moved extremely well around the court just not quite having enough on the orange court. we were 3-1 up after singles and meant we only needed 1 doubles to win the match. James and Haolin played really well and looked to get involved more at the net but lost in a tie break. Evan and Monty served really well which put a lot of pressure on their opponents and they won their match meaning we won 4-2 overall. 

The last team were Buckinghamshire which was a brilliant test for our boys. Monty kickstarted with a solid 4-0 win followed by a tricky opponent for Haolin losing. Evan also had a tough opponent with an extremely close 5th game which could have gone either way. James took a solid win at number 1 and played some very sensible tennis staying very calm, it came down to the doubles and Bucks drafted in 2 different players for their pairings. Both pairs played some superb tennis with the volleyers getting involved and being dominant from the back of the court as well. Meaning we won 4-2 overall and took 2nd place overall! 

Amazing effort everyone, it was a fantastic day for Tennis Oxfordshire.