YOUNG aces Caoimhe Guppy and Bethany Pye played key roles in helping the Herefordshire & Worcestershire girls’ U12s team reach the National County Cup finals in Bolton this weekend (July 13-15).
Guppy, of Pershore, and Pye, of Elmley Castle, were part of the four-strong team, captained by Bromsgrove TC’s Luke Pettit with Malvern’s Lucy Sanders as vice-captain, which won all four matches in their qualifiers in Wrexham.
The duo joined Bromsgrove’s Josie Ward and Stourbridge’s Sophia Jenkins-Howard to sweep aside all before them.
Ward and Guppy held their nerve a thrilling shoot-out decider in the qualifying final against South Wales, saving match points on the way to winning 12-10 in fantastic style.
Despite Pye and Guppy falling just short in the singles, Ward had kept H&W in the tie to win 5-4, 4-2 and then take the doubles 5-3, 5-3.
H&W had begun confidently as all the girls enjoyed strong wins in defeating both Staffordshire and North Wales 4-0.
Ward and Guppy then showed great battling qualities in the deciding doubles against Warwickshire in the semi-finals before winning 5-3, 4-2 for a 3-1 verdict.
Ward had won her singles 4-2, 4-2 and Guppy rushed through 4-2, 4-1, but Jenkins-Howard went down 10-4 in a match tie-break.