Wiltshire Ladies clinch Promotion at AEGON Winter County Cup

The team selected to represent the Wiltshire Ladies Team at the above event was Rebecca Prince, Lucy Roze, Lauren Prince, Katy Hancock, Rachana Patel, Alice Brockman-More, Lauren Cook and Catherine Graham. 

The Wiltshire Ladies team were playing at the Welsh National Tennis Centre in Cardiff in Group 6A and on the first day we were drawn against South of Scotland.  Lauren Cook won the first rubber of the day 6-1, 6-3 after producing some excellent tennis. Alice, lost her match 4-6, 4-6.  Katy had a brilliant battle in her rubber which went to 3 sets, the longest singles match of the day.  Unfortunately she was unable to capitalise on her win in the second set and lost the third set 2-6.  The remaining matches saw Lauren Prince, Lucy Roze and Becky Prince win their matches comfortably in 2 sets.  Rachana came on to play some great doubles to win their rubber 10-7 in the final set (she partnered with Lauren Prince).  Cook & Graham won 6-4, 6-1, then Becky Prince & Lucy Roze clinched the final rubber of the day 6-3, 6-2. This was a Wiltshire 7-2 win overall.

Due to the format, as we had won on the first day we had to play the losers of the other half of the draw, this was Cornwall.  We knew this would be a challenge and we were up for it!  Lauren Cook and Katy gave Wiltshire a great start, winning both of their matches in 2 sets.  This gave the remaining players confidence and in fact we couldn’t have asked for it to have gone better as all the remaining singles rubbers were won!  Patel & Hancock won their doubles as did Cook & Graham.  The overall score was 8-1; the whole team were delighted that we would be fighting for promotion against Suffolk the following day.

The team were ready for the challenge – after some closely fought points Lauren Cook was unfortunate to lose her first set in a tiebreak, and then went on to lose the second set 4-6.  Katy, who put up a good fight in the first set was unable to clinch it and lost 5-7, 3-6.  Wiltshire found themselves 2-0 down so we were depending on Lauren Prince and Lucy Roze to try and win at least one rubber between them.  Lucy lost her first set 5-7 and Lauren lost in a tiebreak.  At this point it wasn’t looking great!  One of the main highlights of the weekend has to be how they both managed to convert their loss in the first set to go onto win their matches – Lucy winning 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 and Lauren winning 6-7, 6-0, 6-1.  A brilliant comeback from both girls thus giving Wiltshire some hope!  Becky and Catherine went on to win their matches – Becky won the first set 6-2 and then her opponent conceded the second set due to suffering an injury.  Catherine won her match 6-2, 6-3 and the whole team were pleased to find themselves in a stronger position for a possible promotion result.  It was all down to gaining one doubles rubber!  However, Suffolk gave us a walkover in the doubles rubbers due to injuries.  Hence giving Wiltshire a 7-2 win!

A brilliant win for the Wiltshire Ladies Team and all the players were delighted with being promoted!  Well done to everyone in the team!  Here’s hoping we can repeat the performance at the Summer County Cup!!!

Catherine Graham (Ladies Team Captain)