Kiwis beat Colombia 2-1

The New Zealand women's Squash Blacks have beaten Colombia 2-1 in their final pool match of the Women's World Team Championships.

The win means New Zealand finish third in their pool, with two wins (over China and Colombia) and two losses (to Egypt and Ireland).  

Coach Paul Hornsby opted to rest number one Amanda Landers-Murphy, who had played a gruelling five set match against Ireland's Madeline Perry earlier that morning, meaning Megan Craig moved into the number one position.  The world number 45 was up against Catalina Palaez.  Palaez boasts a current ranking of 102, although this ranking is deceptive as she doesn't play a lot of WSA tour events.  Craig dropped the opening game, as she is wont to do at times, before warming into her work. While Palaez possessed, and regularly used, some highly effective crosscourt drops, Craig's overall consistency and low error-rate ultimately paid dividends.  She was able to win the second and third games with relative ease, and stormed back from a 4-8 deficit to take the fourth 12-10 to give the Kiwis first blood.

Kylie Lindsay then stepped on to the court with Laura Tovar.  Lindsay was clinical in the beginning, and at 2-0 up the tie looked to be heading the way of the Kiwis.  Tovar, however, had other ideas, and mounted a spirited comeback.  Egged on by the passionate cries of "vamos vamos vamos!" from the Colombian coaches' box, she pulled herself back into contention by setting up a fifth and deciding set.  Lindsay got out to a very strong start in this set, playing three perfect points to lead 3-0.  After some confident winners from Tovar, Lindsay found herself down 6-8, with the tie on knife's edge.  She proceeded to show her experience by slowing the game down and playing sensible squash.  With a number of let decisions played, the momentum gradually swung in the Kiwi's favour, as Lindsay earned a match-ball at 10-8.  She showed no mercy, wrapping the match up 3/2, and with it the tie.

Rebecca Barnett bounded onto the court to play the dead rubber against Colombia's Anna Gabriela Porras, and got off to the best possible start by comfortably winning the first set.  Porras then began to showcase her natural flair, displaying a deadly array of holds, flicks, and cross-court nicks to take command of the match.  Up 2-1 and 10-5 (match ball), the match looked over for Barnett.  However she showed grit and tenacity to claw her way back to 9-10 by controlling some long rallies.  Porras used yet another hold to devastating effect to seal the match against the momentum, and ensure a point for Colombia.

New Zealand now moves into the play-offs for 9-16 places, where their first opponents will be Germany.  The match will be played at 8.30am on Friday morning (NZT), and will be streamed live.  Competition will remain fierce, with many evenly matched teams in this section, and the Kiwis out to finish as high as possible.

Results

New Zealand (9) bt Colombia (13-16) 2-1

Megan Craig bt Catalina Paez 7-11 11-8 11-7 12-10
Kylie Lindsay bt Laura Tovar 11-9 11-7 10-12 8-11 11-8
Rebecca Barnett lost to Anna Gabriela Porras 11-6 6-11 7-11 9-11

Further results: http://wwt2014squash.com/draws/.