In a breakout 2017/18 season Laura and Lucia were making AA semi’s and finals for fun. They stepped up into AAA on occasion, but spent most of their time occupying one of those top four division places…. not once though, did they win.
Earlier this season, while Laura was giving valedictory speeches and running rampant in final year exams, Lucia was keeping up the role of either a AA finalist or a AAA cusp player with VBVA legend Maddy. That win in AA may have remained elusive, but a victory over serial AAA winner Marta Slawuta and her partner in early December, along with two more close pool games, suggested their level had progressed past AA permanently.
So, when Laura returned for round 5 of the Vic Beach State Tour – the final event of 2018 – without sufficient points for AAA, it meant the two L’s were back in AA.
As disappointing as it may have felt, there would be no better opportunity to prove progression in level, than to finally break through with a AA win.
Laura and Lucia’s first two pool games were completed posthaste; dispatching Levy/Bond (18-10, 18-6) and Valentine-Bell/Knight (18-3, 18-9). However a drop in concentration, coupled with the experience of their opponents to sense opportunity, saw a first loss of the day to Boehringer/Vicencio (16-18, 17-19).
That loss meant Laura and Lucia would finish second in their pool, pitting them against tournament top seeds Meier/Smart in the quarters. A comfortable win (18-12, 18-9), pushed them on, making light work of their semi against Betts/Baron-Toop (18-7, 18-13).
Another AA final… this time against, of all teams, the pair who handed them their earlier loss in the pools: Boehringer/Vicencio.
On this occasion, there would be no drop in concentration; Laura and Lucia, strong in defence, stronger in attack, won the first set comfortably 18-8. Albeit Boehringer/Vicencio raised their game in the second, their young opponents were never going to let a first AA tournament win slip through their hands again… 18-13 in the second.
Back in AAA… to stay. Bring on 2019!
