Sunday 19th March and the U18 Shires team hosted Lincolnshire on home turf for the last fixture of the season. With just a single loss to Warwickshire 1 the team wanted to record a good win in order to put them in a good position for the play offs…..
The team:
Martin Beynon, Jai Chandarana, Nikhil Chotai, Tom Cowperthwaite, Ryan King
Eve Dale, Hritika Modi, Issy Paterson-Watts, Izzy Pike
The team made a good start in the mixed doubles with Jai & Issy, Tom & Eve and Nikhil & Hritika winning their games to get off to a 3 – 1 start. However, with each game going to the 3rd end it was clear the match could be a close one.
The Leicestershire team built on these solid foundations in the singles. All 4 Leics boys won their games in straight sets. The girls had a tougher hill to climb with the Lincs team fielding some strong players; Eve winning an entertaining and competitive game against Megan Diggle and both Hritika and Izzy beating their opponents in straight sets. The score after the singles was 10 – 2 with only 1 more game needed for the overall win.
Moving into the level doubles and the Leics boys clearly had the upper hand, winning all 4 games in straight sets. It was a different story however for the girls against 2 very strong Lincs pairs who reversed the scoreline for the boys and recorded all 4 wins, despite Hritika & Issy losing a very close match in the 3rd 17-21 and Eve & Izzy just being pipped by the Lincs 1st pair 23-25.
Final score: Leicestershire 14 : Lincolnshire 6
