SODBURY 0 WRITHLINGTON LADIES’ 1sts 10

After much discussion and deliberation with Sodbury, it was agreed that we would travel (and play) in the rain, as it would be too complicated to organise the rearranged match.

Luckily, their astroturf courts held up well in the persistent rain, and although the ball skidded through extra fast, there were no puddles and no real chance of slipping. Sarah and Eleanor took on the second pairing of Anna and Abi. Eleanor knew Abi through County tennis, so we knew this was going to be a hard-hitting match.

Eleanor’s serve was seriously effective, really playing to the advantage of the surface low-skidding balls. I lost count of the number of aces, including second-serve ones, but we needed every opportunity to try to finish the match quickly in the (at times) torrential rain. Pushing through, we won the rubber 6-3, 6-4.

We ventured back into the slightly lighter rain to play Ann and Debby, a very experienced pairing who knew how to slice to their advantage on the courts. We worked out our game plan of playing to keep the net player stuck in position as far as possible, and Sarah had now adapted to the surface and was able to set up Eleanor to win points, frustrating the opposition.

Eleanor’s serve was again a massive force in the game, and we finished strong with a 6-4, 6-3 win, so we could get changed and watch the ‘exhibition’ match (Mandy and Ces on number one court!) in warm, dry clothes in a lovely clubhouse setting.

Francesa and Mandy paired up – we were unsure if we’d even be able to go ahead with the match on Friday. We found it tricky getting our timing on the astro with all the rain, so tried to keep the points short and get to the net as much as possible. This seemed to work, and we dug out a 6-2, 6-3 win.

The home team of Anna and Abi were playing well and took the first set 6-3. We knew we needed to step up our game, and tried to go back to basics, which helped us to to take the next set 6-2. The third set was close until 3-3, where we managed to close out the match, 6-3.