Herts Ladies do it again with a 5th successive win in Eastbourne!
What an incredible week it’s been for the Herts women in Eastbourne. Our ladies had won the title in the last 4 tournaments and were gearing up to try for a record 5th attempt. Well, our ladies did us proud, winning all their matches and lifting the trophy for an astounding 5th time!
Day 1 was an exciting day of tennis with our brilliant ladies having a great win with a 9-0 defeat of Northumberland.
On day 2 our ladies were on a roll and despite facing a strong Surrey, they put in a powerful performance to take the win 6-3.
Day 3 started with the ladies taking a 9-0 win over Yorkshire before going on to take a 3-0 lead over Middlesex – this match was started early due to poor weather being forecast for the next day. An incredible 12 out of 12 rubbers won in one day!
The weather on day 4 was wet and windy and play had to continue on the Astro courts. With exceptional play once again from the ladies, an 8-1 win over Middlesex was the result.
The final day ended with a 6-3 win over Hampshire and IoW and the lifting of the trophy for a remarkable 5th consecutive time! We are so proud and delighted and we want to say a huge thankyou to captain Amanda Elliott and her team: Emily Arbuthnott, Georgie Axon, Joanna Garland, Jessica Matthews, Erin Pearce, Marelie Raath, Hannah Read, Georgie Walker and Kat Whiteaway. You ladies rock!
Meanwhile, sadly the week was not so kind to our men who battled ferociously with many tight and close matches and tie break shoot outs that just swung the wrong way.
On Day 1 our brilliant men battled against North of Scotland with some very tight matches ending in a 4-5 loss.
Day 2 saw the men battling it out with Northamptonshire and despite some very close final set tie breaks they lost 3-6.
On day 3 our men’s team faced Kent. They had some thrilling and tough matches with several close tie breaks but secured an excellent 6-3 win at end of play.
On wet and windy day 4, our men battled East of Scotland and had some really tight matches but sadly the day ended with a 4-5 loss.
Returning to Devonshire Park for the final day our men took on Surrey who won 5-1 and were crowned national champions. Our brave men gave it their all but it wasn’t to be and we will be in group 2 next year. Our immense gratitude and support to captain Hamid Hejazi and his team: Neil Bamford, Finn Bass, Ed Corrie, Ben Feltham, Daniel Martin, Neil Roskilly, David Stevenson, Ryan Storrie and Oliver Tarvet. All should be very proud of their hard work, commitment and great efforts. We know that they will be bouncing right back very soon. Well done boys!
Additionally, we would like to thank all our dedicated supporters who came to cheer on the teams and also Julie Piper and her hard-working team of officials who enabled a wonderful week of tennis to take place.