U13 Girls: A First National Title For Prestfelde

Charlotta Cooley reports:

23/01/26: The threat of a full day's rain could not dampen the spirits of the players who turned up at Highgate to contest the U13 Girls Nationals on Wednesday 21st January.

Buoyed and energised by the hot chocolate provision, the tournament got underway with the group stages setting up each pair's progression to the next stage. 

Much of the pool game results went to form, with the notable exception of Highgate 2 taking Berkhamsted 1 somewhat by surprise, running away with the win in a shortened game, 6-1. This earned them a semi-final spot against their compatriots, which though it saw a close scoreline, never seemed to have the result in doubt.

The other semi saw a strong, physically imposing Prestfelde pair comfortably overcome the Berkhamsted challenge, dominating the set piece and back court rally play. They took this form through to the final against Highgate, cementing their status as clearly the best pair in the competition.

The young Highgate pair showed real promise and will have benefited hugely from the day's experience, and we look forward to seeing their progress and return next year. This is a hugely exciting result for Prestfelde, being the first ever national title won by this school, and congratulations must go to coach Alex Aldous for his sterling efforts to build and develop the game there.

Plate A was a hotly contested affair, with Prestfelde 2 and Ipswich 1 coming through their respective semi-finals comfortably to play a repeat of their close pool match. Ipswich ran away with first game, only to face improved cutting from Prestfelde in the second and, looking increasingly tired, eventually succumbed in the decider.

The match of the day came in Plate B, where Berkhamsted's 2nd and 4th pairs faced off in the sem-ifinal. Berkhamsted 4 looked like they were going to overturn the seedings as they took the first 8-5, only for their opponents to fight back and take the second by the same scoreline. It was anyone's guess what would happen in the decider - in the end it was over in a flash, with the underdogs finding a rich vein of form to steamroller their compatriots 8-0. 

Huge thanks to Mark Williams for organising, Highgate, especially Billy Bolton and his staff for hosting, and to all the players and staff who braved inclement weather and long journeys to make the tournament happen. 

Semi-finals

Highgate 1 (A.Zampella & R.Ejiofor) beat Highgate 2 (Y.Liu & A.Sola) 12-9, 12-8

Prestfelde 1 (H.Moore-Barrow & G.Turney) beat Berkhamsted 1 (A.Rasul & E.Clews) 12-6, 12-1

Final

Prestfelde 1 beat Highgate 1

12-4, 12-2

3rd/4th

Berkhamsted 1 beat Highgate 2

12-10, 12-8

Plate A

Final

Prestfelde 2 beat Ipswich 1

2-8, 8-3, 8-4

3rd/4th

Cranleigh 1 beat Berkhamsted 5

8-4, 8-7

Plate B

Final

Cranleigh 2 beat Berkhamsted 4

8-1, 8-2

3rd/4th

Berkhamsted 2 beat Berkhamsted 3

12-7