Shropshire tennis sides narrowly miss out on promotion joy

Shropshire's men's and ladies tennis teams both suffered agonising promotion near misses in the Aegon Winter County Cup as they again hinted at their exciting potential.

The men's team, captained by Alex Parry, ultimately fell short by just one rubber after coming up against Cornwall, Isle of Man and Northumberland on consecutive days at Tipton Sports Centre.

And it was a similar story for the county's ladies team, captained by Holly Mowling, who also impressed after making the much longer trip north to Sunderland to take on Gloucestershire, West of Scotland and Hereford & Worcester.

The men's team handed county debuts to Matthew Jones and Nigel Hunter while Parry was joined in the squad by Luke Henley, Matthew Lee, Hugh Jaques, Ed Gibbs, Peter Brown and Richard Tennant.

Shropshire opened their Division 6 campaign against a strong Cornwall side with an average rating three times higher than the county. Shropshire lost the opening three singles matches but Henley began the fightback by brilliantly beating Cornwall No 1 Jake Horton in just under two hours.

Parry and Lee then both beat opponents four times higher in the ratings to pull the scores level at 3-3.

Parry and Gibbs teamed up to win their doubles match to edge Shropshire ahead for the first time – but Hunter and Henley were beaten by Cornwall's No 1 doubles pair.

That meant everything rested on the outcome of the final doubles contest, with Lee and Tennant unfortunate to lose as Cornwall claimed a 5-4 verdict after an exciting day of team tennis.

Next up for Shropshire was a clash against Isle of Man, with Brown and Jacques drafted in. Brown and Gibbs ensured a flying start, winning their singles matches comfortably in under an hour before Jaques and Lee followed suit.

It was then down to Parry and Henley to finish off the tie, Parry obliging with a 6-0, 6-1 victory, while Henley delivered an admirable performance against Billy Harris, a six-foot-four player ranked in the world's top 1,000, before losing in straight sets.

Harris then tasted defeat in the doubles at the hands of Gibbs and Parry 6-2, 6-3 before Henley and Brown teamed up to win their doubles encounter comfortably.

Tennant and Hunter also prevailed, their styles complementing each other well, to round off an excellent team performance.

Northumberland, having lost their two previous games, provided the final day opposition and, just like against Isle of Man, Shropshire came flying out of the blocks to race into an 6-0 lead after the singles. Jones made his county debut at number four and produced an impressive performance, recovering from a set down to win.

With Shropshire holding an unassailable lead, Northumberland conceded the last two doubles rubbers after Lee and Tennant had demolished the north eastern county's No 3 pair.

"Overall we missed out on promotion by one rubber," said captain Parry. "After all the hard efforts of the weekend it was a little frustrating to be edged out by such a small margin.

"But if the majority of this team can stick together for the foreseeable future, I have no doubt that Shropshire men’s tennis can go from strength to strength and return to the higher divisions where I feel we belong.

"We now look forward to the Summer County Cup where we hope we can perform back-to-back promotions."

Shropshire ladies, meanwhile, headed to Sunderland with just six players to battle it out in Division 5A owing to the unavailability of Lauren McMinn and Anna Van der Stap, both key singles players, and Cheryl Heath and Natalie Freegard, important doubles players.

But captain Holly Mowling still had a strong team at her disposal which also featured Chloe Hughes, Imogen Cowper, Jo Bowen, Mia Loney and Jo Fowler.

Shropshire enjoyed an impressive start with a 5-4 victory over Gloucestershire, a side rated higher. All the matches were really close as the county ladies dug deep with impressive wins in the singles for Hughes – who recovered well from losing the opening set – Mowling, Bowen and Loney.

Overall victory was secured thanks to Bowen and Loney winning their doubles clash 7-6, 6-0.

The second day saw Shropshire up against West of Scotland, beaten by Hereford & Worcester on day one. The Scottish side had greater selection options with their No 1 particularly strong.

Mowling, Loney and Bowen had to fight hard for their singles wins, but the Scots proved too strong in the doubles – with Mowling and Bowen the solitary victors – as Shropshire were pipped 5-4.

All four counties in the group had one win and nine rubbers to their name going into the final day, with all to play for as Shropshire took on Hereford & Worcester.

Starting the final round of matches, all counties were still level on 12 rubbers each with only three rubbers remaining, so any of them could have been promoted, relegated or remained in the group.

Both Cowper and Bowen were unlucky as they lost in three tight sets in their singles after hard-fought and long matches. Impressive wins for Mowling, Loney and Hughes, who recently competed in the Aegon GP Pro-Series tournament at The Shrewsbury Club, tied it up at 3-3 going into the doubles.

Shropshire played some brilliant tennis to win two of the three doubles. Mowling and Loney had a match point in their game but ended up losing 10-8 in the championship tie break.

Shropshire beat Hereford & Worcester 5-4 but finished in second place in the group, just one rubber away from possibly being promoted.

"There were a few incidents and situations out of our control," said Mowling. "The fact Gloucestershire had to concede three rubbers in their final round meant West of Scotland ended up being crowned champions and getting promoted."

She added: "It was a great weekend of tennis and there were some amazing matches to watch. The team gave everything and showed true grit and determination.

"Jo Bowen remained unbeaten in the doubles and came away from the event with five wins out of six while myself and Mia remained unbeaten in the singles.

"We will be back again fighting next year at county week having been promoted this summer."

Pictured: The Shropshire ladies team face the camera, from left: Mia Loney, Jo Fowler, Chloe Hughes, Holly Mowling (captain), Imogen Cowper, Jo Bowen.