Under 18 Girls County Cup 2010

Cumbria's Under 18 Girls played at Sunderland in Group 6B of the County Cup over the weekend of 19th - 21 February 2010.  The Cumbrian girls fought hard in Sunderland at the AEGON U18's County Cup at the Puma Tennis Centre on 19-21 February.The team included Jenna Blenkharn, Laura Steel, Catherine Lomax, Kelly Spry, Katie Bell, Georgia Birley and Rachael Harris.  With a last minute change to the team due to the number one player pulling out with injury the girls knew they would have their work cut out.
The first day saw Cumbria face South of Scotland.  They started really well with wins from Katie Bell and Georgia Birley 6-0, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-3 respectively. With hopes of going 3-0 up Kelly was narrowly pipped to the post in a tight and tiring match by her opponent with a tie break in the 3rd set.  Laura Steel and Jenna Blenkharn played some good tennis but were not strong enough against their opponents.  There was all to play for in the doubles with score at 2-4.  The new team stars Katie and Georgia came very close to a win but narrowly lost in a third set match tie break.  Laura and Catherine made their opponents fight for the match losing in a tie break set and then 4-6.  Jenna and Kelly found there opponents too strong although were close in the first set taking it to 5-7.  the day finished 3-6.
Day 2 saw the girls play East of Scotland.  This was to prove to be the toughest day. Katie Bell played a hard fought match but found her opponent too strong. Laura Steel came close to winning a set taking her opponent to a 2nd set tie break.  Jenna and Kelly were the only ones to really test their doubles opposion with a score of 4-6, 5-7.  All the opposion where rated highter than the cumbria girls.  The day finished 0-9.
The third and final day was against Somerset.  Katie Bell started the team off strongly with a win in 3 sets 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. After 5 singles matches and the match score at 1-4 down all was not lost as Jenna put up a good fight playing some great battling tennis. She had several set points in the first set only to lose it but then won the 2nd set and force a 3rd set with which she lost 6-2. The doubles started with Katie and Georgia playing but losing out narrowly on the first set in a tie break. The opposion came out stronger with final score of the day being 1-6.
Team Captain Caroline Clutterbuck expressed,

"The girls battled hard over the weekend and we were unlucky to have lost on Friday.   There was a great spirit shown by the whole team over the weekend and we had an enjoyable weekend overall".
 

Photos from the weekend are also abvailable to view in the Photo Gallery on the website.