Suffolk tennis youngsters show their skills in Essex

The Suffolk girls 8 and under team (Image: Archant)

The girls team included Mia Spaull, Yasmina Severino, Evie Tassell, Lily Godfrey, Charlotte Anderson and Meg Knight.

They were up against Northamptonshire first and had a nervy start to the day, drawing the tie 3-3. They then played against Oxfordshire and won 5-1 with some impressive performances with debutant Knight (6) producing a 10-0 win.

Next up were Essex, with our lack of experience showing in front of the large home crowd we lost 0-6 with some close matches that could have gone either way. Going into the final match needing a win to get out of the box we were up against Bedfordshire and drew 3-3.

The girls ended up sixth overall after beating Berkshire 4-2 and drawing to Bucks 3-3 in the play-off rounds.

The Suffolk boys team was Freddie Clark, Scott Watson, Charlie Dinmore, Lukyan Arnold, Jack Bozhurt and Oscar Wright.

Up first were Berkshire, who had a strong team, and we drew 3-3 with some close matches. Suffolk then played against Befordshire and won 5-1.

Having got used to the environment the boys looked more relaxed in this tie and played some impressive tennis. Again we had to play Essex in front of the home support unfortunately the nerves got the better of us and we lost 5-1.

Next up were Cambridgeshire which was a close tie, Clark at number 1 doing a great job throughout the day and leading by example getting a 10-7 over Cambridgeshire’s Herbie Morris. However it wasn’t to be and we lost 4-2 overall.

We then played Bucks in the play-off which was a nail biter!

After Dinmore battled hard to win 10-9 to put us 3-2 in the tie in then came down to Clark to seal the deal and put us through to the next play-off match.

With the energy reserves running low after a long day we then had to play Essex again.

In a vastly improved showing Suffolk just lost out 4-2 and the boys’ team ended up sixth overall, the same as the girls.