The Cumbria county ladies tennis team exceeded all expectations at Poole in this year’s County Cup. 

In their group the Cumbrians were up against Cornwall, Isle of Man and South of Scotland.

Cumbria started the week against a very strong Cornwall side, who were the eventual winners,  team who had been relegated last year.

Caroline Clutterbuck and Tess Moore put in some gritty performances, but unfortunately the team were unable to win a rubber.

Tuesday brought some very challenging weather and play was moved to the artificial grass surface where it remained for the rest of the week.

The Isle of Man were the opponents but after three wins from number one couple Tracey Breese and Joanne Cain, and one rubber each from second pair Rhona Donaldson and Laura Woodburn, and third couple Clutterbuck and Moore, Cumbria emerged 5-4 winners.

The winners of Cumbria and South of Scotland would progress into the top half to play for promotion in the second half of the week.

For the second day running Breese and Cain played superbly to win all three rubbers, with second pair Chris Wood and Woodburn winning two and third pair Donaldson and Jenna Blenkharn winning one, giving Cumbria a 6-3 victory.

As Cumbria had qualified for the promotion play off, Thursday and Friday were very tough days for the team.

Suffolk, who were eventually promoted by finishing second, beat Cumbria by 8 rubbers to 1 with Wood and Cain beating their third pair.

On Friday against Wiltshire Cumbria were unfortunate not to get more out of some close matches, eventually losing 7-2..

A good enjoyable week was had by the whole team, and they did extremely well to finish overall fourth out of 8, but mainly to qualify for the top half of the group.

Squad: Tracey Breese, Joanne Cain, Rhona Donaldson, Laura Woodburn, Chris Wood,  Tessa Moore, Jenna Blenkharn, Caroline Clutterbuck

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