South Taranaki side leads Soffe Cup

Andrew Moffat

Photo: Pukekura's Jordan Whittleston returning a hit from Rotokare's Blair Crowley on Saturday. Supplied.

Okaiawa teamed up well to fend off the challenge of Huatoki and stay atop the Soffe Cup table as the business end of the season approaches.

While Okaiawa have proved hard to beat all season they could take nothing for granted against a Huatoki side battling for a place in the semi-finals. But while Huatoki challenged Okaiawa in the singles, Okaiawa put on a dominant display in combines and doubles, dropping just one match in eight to take the tie 12 matches to 4. With no Amrit Rai in Huatoki’s lineup, Alistair Nairn stepped up to take on Hamish Mead in the top singles. Mead has rarely been troubled this season and continued his impressive run with a 6-1, 6-2 victory. It was a different story in a seesaw match between Grant Morris and Murray Keast, making his welcome return to the Huatoki lineup. Morris snatched the first set 6-0, before a Keast comeback in the second took the match to a third set – where Morris once again proved dominant, taking it 6-1. Okaiawa father and son combo Vince and Andrew Baylis had mixed fortunes, with Vince outlasting Josh Wormald in two tight sets while Andrew went down to Shane Douglas 6-2, 6-3. Huatoki’s women shared the singles honours, with Sophie Robertson and Hannah Sifleet both scoring victories. In the top slot Robertson took the win 6-1, 6-4 against Jorja Symes, while Sifleet took three sets, the last decided in a tiebreaker, to beat Marissa Clough Okaiawa’s Abby Ross and Ruby McIntyre continued their good form with wins over mother and daughter pairing, Chris Wilson/Jae Laurence. The doubles court proved a happy Okaiawa hunting ground for the rest of the day, with Robertson and Wilson picking up the only win for Huatoki in the remaining eight matches. While several matches took tiebreakers to separate the teams, it was Okaiawa who had the clear edge on the day.

In the battle of Taranaki’s rural heartland it was Stratford who eventually found a way past a solid Inglewood challenge, winning 10-6. At the top of the women’s lineup Courtney Tippett and Kristen Lourie both notched up comfortable victories against Inglewood’s Maria Spurdle and Chrissy Mace before Michaela Major and Renee Clement squared the ledger with equally comfortable victories over Emma Andrews and Hannah Burroughs. Stratford’s men took out three of four singles. Callum Old won in two tight sets, 7-5, 7-6 over the consistent David White, while Bruce Cleland also struck winning form with a two-set triumph over Beauden Fleming. Grant Kite made it three wins in three singles outings with a victory over Alex Gawler 6-2,6-4. Inglewood’s Michael Gibbons defeated the mercurial Michael Boland 6-3, 6-1. Stratford’s established men’s doubles pairings broke down Inglewood, winning both matches in straight sets after close first set tussles. Both women’s doubles went the distance to super tiebreakers, with Spurdle and Mace claiming the top doubles for Inglewood while Lourie and Burroughs edged the win for Stratford 11-9 in the super tibreaker. With Inglewood defaulting the two top combines matches their victories in the remaining combines were not enough.

The final match was a convincing victory for Rotokare over Pukekura 13-3. The Walsh Road team went in as favourites and while Pukekura had their moments, it ended as a day to savour for Rotokare. An entertaining match at the top of the order saw Rotokare’s Blair Crowley take on Jordan Whittleston. With a big week of high school tennis under his belt Whittleston was striking the ball well and made Crowley work hard for an eventual 6-4, 6-3 victory. Rotokare’s Luis Silva and Doug Neilson waged a war of attrition in the longest match on the singles court, with Silva, always the dogged competitor, eventually claiming the third set 6-3. Pukekura’s Ray Teunissen and Andrew Moffat both bagged wins for Pukekura. Teunissen rolled back the years with a hard-fought victory over Luke De Villiers 7-6, 7-5. The pair, both lively competitors, did not disappoint with plenty of court coverage and commitment on both sides of the net. Consistent backhand slice from Moffat blunted Devlin’s attacking game enough for him to win in two sets. With several regular Pukekura women from recent years missing, Pukekura called on the services of Wellington wildcard Tenzin Joe, who slotted in at number two. She won an entertaining match against Emma Roberts, who was coming off a victory in the TSSSA tournament earlier in the week. The remainder of the women’s matches went Rotokare’s way. The steady, heavy-hitting play of Cranston eventually got the better of the Derryn Fleming, 7-5, 6-2 while Chantelle Peters had too much firepower for Jeanette Harding. Tania Atkinson’s experience helped her win in two competitive sets over Olivia Pennington. Pennington can take a lot from the match, which showed she is capable of challenging higher ranked and more experienced opponents. The rest of the day belonged to Rotokare, who picked up a clean sweep of the doubles and combines. The top women’s doubles stood out as the most competitive match, with Cranston and Atkinson splitting sets 6-4, with Fleming and Joe before winning a tense super tiebreaker 10-7. Rotokare’s addition of Mike and Will Roberts during the doubles fixtures only made the day tougher for Pukekura.

Oakura had the bye.