Qualifying Taunton Tennis Club

14U Girls County Cup 2017

Qualifying – Taunton Tennis Club

The Surrey Under 14's girls team started their County Cup campaign in Taunton, Somerset having to beat Avon and Cornwall to reach the final round of qualifying.

Cheyenne Borg got Surrey off to a great start against Avon beating Aryana Bartlett 6-2, 6-0, matched by comfortable wins by Sally Pethybridge and Lara Bakhaya who both won in straight sets. Oriana Parkins- Godwin battled hard but it was Amy Leather who won the second singles. Surrey led 3-1 going into the doubles. Dalanda Bah and Cheyenne Borg won their match for Surrey, 6-0 6-1 but Lucy Webber and Lara Bakhaya had a close fought match narrowly losing to the Avon first pair. Final score Surrey 4 - Avon 2.

On the second day of qualifying Dalanda Bah, Cheyenne Borg, Lucy Webber and Oriana Parkins-Godwin won their matches with the loss of only three games booking our place in the qualifying final and a chance to go to Nationals. Surrey won both doubles comfortably, finishing the match Surrey 6 – Cornwall 0.

The final was a tough match against Wiltshire, who had three out of their four players higher ranked than Surrey. Cheyenne Borg got Surrey off to the perfect start beating Ai Tamaki 6-1, 6-2. This was followed by two big upsets from Lara Bakhaya beating Ellen Jones and Oriana Parkins-Godwin beating Jessica Doer. Surrey led 3-0 going into the final singles with Sally Pethybridge taking on Amelia Bissett. Bissett, ranked fifth in the country and coming straight from the ITF event in Nottingham, was the clear favourite. Sally went onto cause the upset of the tournament and book Surrey’s place at Nationals with a 6-3, 7-6 win. Final score Surrey 4 – Wiltshire 0.

National Finals – Nottingham Tennis Centre

Surrey arrived in Nottingham for County Cup National Finals as the fourth seeds behind favourites, Yorkshire, second seeds Middlesex and third seeds Hertfordshire. On a heavily rained delayed opening day Surrey had an excellent start with wins from Cheyenne Borg and Lara Bakhaya. This was matched by Leah Gonzales-Edwards who didn't drop a game against Caitlin Mcloughlin. In the final singles Sally Pethybridge had a tough three setter, narrowly losing in the championship tie-break to Grace Piper. Gloria Alogo- Piqueras and Leah Gonzales-Edwards won the match against Somerset with a convincing 4-2, 4-1 win over Francesca Davis and Megan Rundle.

A win from Surrey's second match against Essex would book a place in the semi-finals against number two seeds Middlesex. Surrey dominated with outstanding singles displays from Gloria Piqueras-Alogos, Lara Bakhaya, Leah Gonzales-Edwards and Oriana Parkins-Godwin, wrapping up the match 4-0.

In the semi-finals Surrey took on second favourites, Middlesex, and started well with Lara Bakhaya playing very high level tennis winning her match 4-0, 5-4, but Middlesex then levelled the match, winning at three with Camilla Gretschel. In the number two singles Oriana Parkins-Godwin hit winners from both sides from the back to beat Mayela Bassega, giving Surrey the lead once again, but Middlesex again levelled the match with Andrea Pineda winning at number one.

The match was all square at 2-2 going into the doubles. This was Surrey’s best performance of the tournament with Gloria and Lara winning 4-0, 4-2 and Oriana and Leah winning 4-1, 4-2 to secure a place in the final. The final was against the tournament favourites, Yorkshire, but Surrey put up a great fight with Lara Bakhaya giving Surrey the lead winning at number three. Cheyenne Borg battled hard, narrowly losing in three sets at four. The top two singles were close with Yorkshire coming out on top and giving them a 3-1 lead. Surrey didn't give up without a fight and Leah and Oriana had a close three setter at number one doubles, but it was to be Yorkshire’s day winning 5-1.

It was a great performance from Surrey who twice beat a higher ranked team in the competition, and a special mention needs to go to Lara Bakhaya for the countless matches she was sent out to play and always coming back with the win.

Team Manager - Mark Holdstock Team Coach - Lucy Charlton