HARWICH’S Mikayla Mann, Hannah Morley, from Ardleigh, and Alice Lindsay, from Brentwood, represented Essex at the National Under-11s Inter-County Championships.

They battled all the way to the final, before finishing as runners-up.

The girls were undefeated and did not drop a game in the early rounds, convincingly beating Warwickshire 2, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire 2. This earned them a place in the semi-finals, against Warwickshire 1.

The match was even at 1-1, with Mann left to play and needing to win to get Essex into the finals.

She played intelligently, accurately and was just too strong for the Warwickshire number two to handle, winning 2-0.

The final proved a tough challenge for the girls against a very strong Yorkshire 1 team. Their opponents had not dropped a game en route to the final, either.

The Essex girls fought hard, with great attitude and desire, but just couldn’t do enough to win and lost 3-0.

County coach Chris Chitty, who travelled with them, was delighted with their performance, both on and off the courts, and could not have asked for anything more.

Mann and Morley train at the Off the Wall Squash Academy at the Colchester Garrison.

Chitty is based at Harwich Sports Centre.