On Sunday 14th October, the first stage of the U15 girls’ inter-county squash championship was held at the Hull and East Riding Squash Club, the host county being Yorkshire. With Lincolnshire dropping out it was just a single tie between Derbyshire and Yorkshire.
Derbyshire were represented by Laura Jones, Jordan Mellor, and Gabrielle Barton from Brampton Manor squash club, and Molly Tomlinson and Francesca Sulley from Duffield squash club. This was the first outing for the team and also the first time they had played at U15 level, and for Jordan it was her first match playing for her county.
We always knew it was going to be a tough tie against a very experienced and talented Yorkshire team, and so it proved. But, the girls did everything that was asked of them, fighting for every point and each of them playing their best squash. Although we didn’t end up winning many games (Gabrielle winning the first game of her match most convincingly 11/4), the girls competed. The Yorkshire captain made a point to commend the girls’ performance at the end of the competition, I quote, ‘The girls were a real credit to Derbyshire and certainly gave our girls a game.’
