The Isle of Man women’s tennis team travelled to Prestwick in Scotland to compete in the annual Winter County Cup event over the weekend.

This year, the island team was placed in a group with the South of Scotland, North Wales and the Channel Islands.

The Isle of Man had a slightly depleted squad this time around and, after being plagued with unavailability and injury, were forced to field a team of only five instead of the usual six for the starting day.

This meant that they started 2-0 down against South of Scotland after having to concede a singles and a doubles match.

South of Scotland went on to win the tie 8-1 despite an impressive win from Karen Faragher, who managed to get the better of a talented youngster at number one singles 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, while Justine Torry narrowly missed out on a win, losing in three close sets 6-2, 4-6, 4-6.

Day two saw the team return to a full contingent with Katie Tinkler’s arrival. Unfortunately, after being demoted from a higher division the previous year, North Wales proved too strong for the Isle of Man who didn’t manage any wins.

The closest match was Tinkler and Faragher’s doubles which had plenty of exciting volley exchanges.

Even so, the team remained positive for the final day where they faced the Channel Islands. Torry got the team off to a flying start with a 6-2, 6-2 win over her opponent, while 15-year-old Aailish Kelly battled her way to her first adult county level singles win, coming from a set down to win 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Lucy Kerr was unable to add to the tally as, despite her best efforts, her opponent was on top form, not having dropped a singles match all weekend.

Snidal managed to overcome a slow start to beat her opponent in three sets, while another three-setter ended in defeat for Tinkler.

Evidently, the overall tie was very tight between the two teams therefore it was a huge shame that the Isle of Man then had to concede the rest of the matches because of time constraints for the flight home.

Had it gone all the way, the team is confident they could have clinched victory in the match.

Despite this, the whole team enjoyed the weekend’s competitive tennis and look forward to the next opportunity to play at county level.