Ladies Berks B Match Reports

Firstly very well done to the Berkshire A team with their hard fought win. A glass of fizz sounds very well deserved and a lovely way to end the afternoon!

We also had cause for celebration with a win against Bradfield.

Unfortunately I received an email late Thursday night informing me that Bradfield were unable to field 4 players due to a very long and complicated story which I won’t go into! They wanted to re-arrange the match which we had to say would be impossible at this late stage so we agreed to play against one of their pairs and they would have to conceded the other two rubbers.

My first pair Meg H who had come down especially from London for the match partnered Lucy B who helped us to victory on our last match against Ascot. The pairing proved invincible as the girls powered through 6-3 6-4. Lotte and I arrived at Bradfield a little later but in time to see the girls impressive win on very dusty clay courts. Well done girls I look forward to you playing for the team again either in the winter or next summer!

The Bradfield girls looked a little tired so Lotte and I only had a quick warm up which we later regretted as it took us a while to feel comfortable on the courts which felt very slippery. We managed to win the first set 7-6 following a tie break but then found our rhythm and won the next set 6-1.

We were given some very welcome cakes and juice and returned to Shiplake content with our win but a little disappointed that we were unable to play a full match.

Next time!😊

1. Di, Karen C and Lucy B arrived as requested by me at 12.30, half an hour before our match for a warmup and practise.  Unfortunately we found the courts fully booked with coaching and Club Match until 1 pm.  My fault and apologies to the team, next time I will organise the match half an hour later so we have time before to practise beforehand.
2. Luckily the lack of warm up did not effect our brilliant start
3. Di and I played Alex and M.  We lost the first 2 games but soon got into our stride and took the first 2 sets 6-2 6-3
   *Meanwhile Karen and Lucy enjoyed a battle with Tracy and Sui with lots of long rally’s and duces before they took the sets 6-2 6-4 Lucy covered the court brilliantly finishing off the points with strong hard shots and Karen’s  consistency at getting the ball back confirmed a good partnership.
4.  
   Following a short break we were straight back on court where Di and I were very disappointed to lose the first set 5-7.  I was lacking some energy but  with some words of encouragement from Di and a much needed sugar hit from the wine gums she bought on court we battled on to 6-6 before winning the tie break.  Unfortunately we then lost the championship tie break 8-10 but it could have gone either way!
   *Meanwhile Karen and Lucy were having an equally tough long match.  They won the first set but lost the second at 6 all in a tie break. However they pulled it back in the championship tie break and won the rubber.
    
5. After 4 hours on court and 2 set tie breaks followed by 2 championship tie breaks we won 3 rubbers to 1 
    
6. Thanks Di you were a great partner.  The opposition said after a long rally and sounding very frustrated “she just gets everything back!!” How true!
    
7. luckily they opted out of tea so we were able to get back for around 5.45 feeling rather pleased with ourselves😅
8. Well done team!