Women's Winter County Cup

Winter County Cup, Group 3B at Nottingham Trent University

Team: Jemima King (captain), Lereesa Easterbrook, Alexa Wilson, Izzy Marshall, Anna Micu, Robyn Went, Emily Marshall, Shravanti Venkatakrishnan, Helena Ullyatt.

Friday 22nd November

Buckinghamshire lost Derbyshire 3-6

A cold start to the event with the team having to navigate the snowy roads to the venue. We knew it was going to be a tough weekend with the Bucks team fielding a young team due to a few players moving to the America to study and older players being unavailable. Four of the eight player team were still competing in the juniors. An exciting weekend for the next generation of Bucks Tennis. First up was Derbyshire. Helena and Emily took the courts first as debut singles senior matches for both. Helena made the most of her court time and got pipped right at the end against an extremely steady opponent in a 3rd set battle. Emily’s opponent was on fire and in fact didn’t lose a match all weekend. 0-2 with Robyn and Shravanti stepping onto the court. You would not have known this was Shravanti’s debut match, she stomped all over her older opponent and made light work of her and won convincingly. Robyn couldn’t quite match her opponent, 1-3 with Izzy and Alexa coming in at 1&2. Derbyshire’s number 2 had just returned from US University tennis and is currently making her way on the adult tour. Alexa put up a great fight but opponent had a little too much, 1-4 with Izzy rolling through her opponent to make it 2-4 and the match still live. Doubles line up Alexa/Izzy (1), Lereesa/Robyn (2) and Helena/Emily (3). Tough matches all round against experienced doubles players. We picked up a win at 1, lost at 2nd pair and the 3rd pair narrowly lost in a nail biting 3rd setter, 3-6 to Derbyshire. Onwards and upwards tomorrow but knowing the next two teams would have even stronger opposition.

Saturday 23rd November

Buckinghamshire lost to West of Scotland 3-6

A new day and the team were ready. A change of line up with Anna Micu coming in from studying at Loughborough. Emily picked up her first senior win with a dominating first set and finding a way through a tight 2nd set with her opponent stepping it up. Shravanti came across a very consistent lefty that was just too consistent for her on the day. 1-1 with Anna and Robyn stepping up. A cracking performance from Robyn, with her finding an answer to all of the questions her opponent was asking, fantastic performance. Anna played against a lefty who found the gaps on the court and was able to put Anna consistently on the back foot. 2-2 going into 1&2 singles. We knew this was going to be a challenge with Maia Lumsden at 1 who is currently ranked 77 WTA in doubles. Izzy went toe to toe with her and the rallies were phenomenal, however Maia was just able to get one more quality ball back and Iz came up short. Alexa was playing a solid opponent who used her craftiness to put Alexa on the back foot. 2-4 into doubles. There was a change in the line up with Iz/Alexa (1), Lereesa/Anna and Robyn/Helena. A brilliant win for Robyn/Helena 11-9 in the 3rd but the other two pairs came up short against stronger opponents on the day. 3-6 to West of Scotland.   

Sunday 24th November

Buckinghamshire lost to Nottinghamshire 3-6

We knew it was going to be a tough day but the spirits were high with the day starting with a fun initiation for Shravanti for her debut appearance at Winter County Cup. Two strong performances from Emily and Shravanti took Bucks to an early lead.  Two tough opponents next for Robyn and Anna with a little more experience and guile took the team to 2-2 with Alexa and Izzy up next. Izzy was up against Amelia Rajecki who recently graduated from a top ranked US University. Izzy put up a great fight but Amelia had too many answers to the questions Izzy asked. 3-2 Notts. Alexa made swift work of her opponent which meant we were 3-3 going into the doubles. We knew we were up against it as their team had more experienced doubles players but we gave it our all, splitting strength of players across the pairings.  The team gave their all but Helena/Anna, Robyn/Emily and Alexa/Izzy couldn’t get the win.

Unfortunately, this meant the team was demoted to Group 4 but are ready to rebuild and come back with more experience next year. A great learning curve for the younger players and we know we will be back stronger.  A fun weekend and great to see the younger players coming through and representing the county.