18U Boys County Cup Report
Team:
Sam L, Joe, Callum, Oliver, Sam C, Harry E, Oliver and Toby.
This year the boys were playing in division 6a with the hope of battling for promotion into division 5 with one of the strongest H&W line ups in the last few years.
Due to one of the teams in the division pulling out, there were only 2 other teams to play and so the format was across 2 days instead of 3, with all of the singles matches being played on day 1 and all of the doubles matches on day 2.
Day 1 – Singles
The first round on day 1 was playing against South of Scotland. With 4 courts in play we had Oliver on the nearest court playing at 6, Callum playing at 5, Joe playing at 4 and Toby playing at 3.
Each of the matches got off to a good start for H&W with 3 of the boys going up an early break in the first set, all 4 of them playing good tennis. All of the boys managed to close out set 1 without too much difficulty.
Toby and Ollie’s opponents managed to find some good form in the second set to make it much closer, but the boys both maintained composure to close the sets out with a break of serve to take the rubbers for the team.
Meanwhile, Joe and Callum were going from strength to strength and followed up a good first set performance with an even stronger second set. Joe closed out the second set with a 6-0 win over his opponent whilst Callum, although having the longest of the 4 matches managed to get his second set with a convincing 6-2.
Next up were Sam Cand Sam L, playing at number 2 & 1. Both of the Sam’s got off to a good start in their matches, taking the first set. Sam L with a tight 7-6 win and Sam C with a convincing 6-1. The following set posed more of a challenge, with both of the Scottish players improving their level and taking both of the second sets. 18U county cup rules, meant that both Sam’s were to play a full third set to decide the match.
Sam C managed stay mentally tough and see his match out 7-6(6) in a very closely contested third set.
Sam L, played a very good level in his third set against the strong number 1 Scottish player, in the match of the day (if not the weekend). Some fantastic tennis was played from both boys, but in the end the skilled Scottish player came through to get a rubber for his team. At the end of the round the score was 5-1 to H&W.
Moving into round 2 of the singles, the boys next set of opponents were our neighbouring county Shropshire.
On paper, as in the previous round, H&W were the favourites, but paper doesn’t always mean much!
This round, we had Harry coming in to play singles. Harry was the youngest player on the team, but didn’t show any nerves, by getting off to a great start with a 6-0 set against his opponent. After a combination of his opponent increasing his level and a minor lapse in focus to see the score get to 3-3 in the second set, Harry managed to switch it on again and see it out 6-3 in the second. The other boys all played another strong round of tennis winning each of their matches in two sets with reasonably comfortable score lines.
At the end of the singles round against Shropshire, the score was 6-0.
Day 2 – Doubles
Given that the matches against the other counties are a total of 9 rubbers across singles and doubles, the boys had already done enough to secure promotion with a 5-1 and 6-0 lead from the singles.
Going into day 2 the boys knew that the doubles rubbers were a formality, and could have easily switched off and lost focus. Happily this wasn’t the case as all of the pairs went in to the first round of doubles with the mindset to secure an even more comprehensive win.
Ollie came on to play his first match of the weekend against South of Scotland, paired up with Harry at third pair. They played a solid match, winning in 2 sets. Sam C and Ollie W played at second pair, similarly coming through in 2 sets. Sam L and Joe had a tough first set going to a tie break against the Scotland first pair, but came through it 9-7 and then managed to carry on their momentum to take the second set.
Round 2 of doubles against Shropshire saw a similar set of outcomes with number 3 pair Harry and Toby seeing of the Shropshire 3s in convincing fashion in 2 sets 6-3 6-0, whilst on the adjacent court Sam C and Ollie W maintained their consistency with a mature doubles win. The last match of the weekend was with Sam L and Joe playing against the Shropshire 1s. After losing the first set 7-5, they managed to get themselves going and found some energy at the right times to take the second set. After being 8-3 up in the third set tiebreak, their opponents managed to claw it all the way back to 9-9. The H&W boys managed to stay mentally tough to get over the line in the end 11-9 in the final set!
After back to back relegations in previous years, it was great for the boys to gain promotion in such emphatic fashion, with a relatively young team it will be interesting to see how H&W get on in future events.
Well done to debutants Ollie (voted joint player of the event), Harry, Ollie & Toby who represented their county brilliantly in their first 18U county cup. Equally well done to the rest of the team and the players for which this event will be their final of the 18U age group; Sam L, Sam C, Joe (voted joint player of the event).
County Cup is as much about the off court as it is the on court & the way the boys gelled as a team was a pleasure to watch and be a part of this year. I look forward to seeing the future of the team going into next years event!
Mike Langston
18U Boys Captain
