18&U Girls County Cup 2026

20 – 22nd March, Group 2b Essex

Team:  Alisha Ndukwu, Emily Marshall , Shravanti Venkatakrishnan, Elizabeth Surkova, Molly Dallas, Moki Chinthaparthi, Myah Chang-Harper, Hannah Bark-Jones, Papaya Douvall

Captains: Jemima King, Izzy Marshall

This was the 18&U girls team first year in Div 2 for a while after battling it out in Div 3 for the previous 6 years, so we knew it was not going to be easy. But everyone went into the weekend super excited for the opportunity to play some tricky opponents and we knew that anything can happen on the day! Two of the team were in their last year at 18&U, so heartfelt speeches were made and some tears were shed, showing how much County Cup means to the players. ‘No regrets’, ‘Back yourself’ and ‘Energy, Energy, Energy’ as well as the new ‘channel of opportunity’ were the key words for the weekend.

Here are a few highlights from each day:

Day 1: 3-6 loss to Dorset.  This was a tough first day for the swans and even though the score was 3-6 there were many tight matches that could have gone either way. Several players overperformed, showing the grit and determination that Bucks players are known for. The court conditions weren’t easy with two different surfaces in two different parts of the club, meaning that the team was split between the matches. But this didn’t stop us and the level of support off the court did not suffer. Elizabeth went on first and battled hard but her opponent was just too strong this time around. Myah showed enormous determination in our first 3 set battle of the weekend and just lost out in a close full third set. There were many more of these to come throughout the weekend, demonstrating just how competitive it was! Next was Molly and Papaya who was making her 18s county cup debut. Molly fought hard showing amazing calm and fight but couldn’t quite get over the line against a tough opponent. Papaya played a skilful game and broke her opponent at just the right time to win 6-4 6-4 securing Bucks their first match of the weekend! Emily played the role of a rhythm wrecker in a 3 hour battle, definitely getting her steps in, but lost out in the third set 4-6. Meanwhile, Alisha was taking control and stayed calm to win at number 1 with some insane winners. We went into the doubles ready to give our all and try out the things we have been working on in county training. Our key theme this year has been ‘the channel of opportunity’ which the players were really putting into practise! Elizabeth and Molly put on a solid performance with some cracking net play to win their match but we just lost out in the other two with both new pairings Papaya\Emily and Alisha/Moki showing resilience, despite some great play from the opposition and a pesky curtain that the opponents were rather cunningly able to use to their advantage with some accurate out wide serves. Day one was tough but the girls were still in high spirits and already planning tactics for the next two days to come.

Day 2 3-6 loss to Essex. The singles lineup stayed the same as Friday’s lineup except for Moki, who came in fighting at five. She played some solid tennis, making very little unforced errors in the match and keeping a positive mind-set but her opponent was on fire and came out on top. Elizabeth fought hard but her opponent proved to be too strong this time. Onto the court went Molly and Papaya. Molly came up against someone that was stronger on paper but that didn’t stop from her from playing some incredible tennis and winning 6-4 6-2 with some amazing serves and great effort to move up the court. The girls were saying that she ‘unlocked flow state’?! Papaya lost the first set but came out dominating in the second showing the Bucks determination and ‘never back down’ attitude to win that 6-3. Unfortunately her opponent was not done yet and took the deciding set. Emily’s opponent proved to be too strong with some quick serves and drive volleys and she wasn’t able to break her rhythm. Alisha played a really tough opponent but maintained her confidence throughout, hitting some superb forehand winners, but the Essex player came away with the win. Then came the doubles and the power pair Elizabeth/Molly went on at three and won the first doubles by dominating at the net and being the first ones to intercept. Emily and Papaya teamed up again to redeem themselves after the loss the day before and did just that in an extremely tight 7-6 7-6 win against a tough pair. They worked together to get closer to the net and used lots of set plays on the serve to mess up their opponents rhythm. Then onto the court came Alisha and Shravanti, and despite Shravanti having lost her voice the effort was at 100% even if they didn’t win in the end. Even though we didn’t come out on top, spirits remained high as we prepared for a battle to stay in Div 2 on the Sunday against Cambridge.

Day 3 5-3 Win against Cambridgeshire: We knew that the battle against Cambs would be tricky but everyone was fuelled by wanting to stay in Div 2 where the quality was incredible, and after a good warm up with some games involved everyone was raring to go and get the win for the team. Myah went on first and remained focused and driven throughout, absolutely acing the inside in forehand. Support on the sidelines was high and Myah got the win to make it 1-0 Bucks. Molly battled hard and showed grit and determination throughout but Cambridgeshire wasn’t going to go down without a fight and it was back to a level playing field at 1-1. Then it was Papaya’s turn and she was up against a player with a similar style. Rallies were long and the tension was high. She lost the first set but dug in and got up in the second. It went back 6-6 and everyone was on the edge of their seats for the tiebreak in which Papaya stayed calm and narrowly took it 8-6. Her fight and endurance proved to be too much for her opponent in the third set and she dominated winning it 6-0 giving Bucks the lead. Shravanti came out swinging and her power and precision was able to seal her the victory in her singles proving that she can still be awesome even when she is not feeling 100%. The Bucks values of grit and determination were really shining through this weekend. Emily’s opponent dominated with some rocket serves and returns but Bucks still remained just in the lead at 3-2. Alisha played some phenomenal tennis in a tight battle showing fire and passion. Her ‘Bamo!’ celebration made everyone smile! At 4-2 we just needed one more win to stay in Division 2! Even with this pressure Molly and Elizabeth smashed their doubles, winning 10-8 in the third set tie-break. Their early interceptions and eagerness to take control at the net got them this well-deserved win. And with that Bucks got third place and managed to stay in Division 2 to battle it out another year!

The Coaches were extremely proud of the girls for their commitment to be great team players, their passion and determination, and ‘no regrets attitude’ on the court. Here’s to giving Division 2 another go next year!! We will come back even stronger next time with lots of positives to take away and lots of good feedback to help the players develop their games further.

Go Swans! J

By Jemima King