Finals of Senior Inter-District Teams Decided

Waikato and Bay of Plenty will battle it out in the Women's Inter-District Teams Event competition whilst Wellington and Canterbury will take to the court to decide the Men's Inter-District Teams Event competition.

The day started with the Men's draw and third seeds Auckland beating sixth seeds Eastern in a convincing 4 match win. Sion Wiggin, Lance Beddoes and Brad Robinson all completed their matches in comfortable 3-0 wins against Chapman Kutia, Ben Remihana and Todd Redman respectively. Neil Rossin was the only one to drop a game to Jordan Le Comte where he got off to a slow start in the first but he came back to win in 4. 

Seventh seeds Bay of Plenty had second seeds Canterbury first up. Chris Van Der Salm made quick work of Aaron Kopittke winning in 3. Alex Oakley and Sean Dykes had a five set battle with Dykes trying to show Oakley he could beat his old team mate but the match eventually went the way of Oakley. Paul Coll and Ben Grindrod were next on, Coll carried his strong performance from the previous day but some slips in the third saw Grindrod take a game in the third, it wasn't enough with Coll claiming the game in 4. Scott Gardiner made light work of Ben Thronton with Thornton just not being able to find his stride this round.

In the Women's Draw second seeds Bay of Plenty had to face sixth seeds Central and 2014 Women's winners. Jo Shanks and Holly Donnelly got the team off to a good start beating Kaitlyn Watts and Rebecca Clifford respectively in three games each. Amanda Landers-Murphy made sure to secure the win taking out Danielle Fourie in a hard fought 4. The biggest match of this round was between Nadia Hubbard and Jackie Tapp. Both players went game for game and a long game in the fifth eventually went the way of Nadia. 

First seeds Waikato played sixth seeds Canterbury. Kylie Lindsay and Jacinta Matson got off to a strong start with 3-0 wins over their opponents Ella Dromgool and Sophie O'Connell. Joelle King and Megan Craig had a rematch of the Women's Final, this time Craig snuck in the third game but it wasn't enough with King closing out the match in the fourth. Nadine Cull had a mammoth battle against Nikki Kennedy, whilst the game only went to 4 both players fought hard the whole way through.

Central and Waikato managed to have a sleep in this morning and it seemed both teams were going strong with all matches having some tense moments. Zac Millar and Luke Jones were first on court and the young gun Jones managed to clinch the win off Millar in an intense 5 setter. Stephen Bennet made light work of Montell Whatarangi, with Whatarangi just not being able to find his stride this morning. Chris Lloyd pushed Kashif Shuja in the first game but he wasn't able to get across the line and went down in 3 and Waikato lost the round, however this did not stop Phil Buscke Somervell from coming out onto court to push for Waikato's lone win of the round, with some hard fought rallies the match went Phil's way and he got Waikato onto the board. 

2014 winners Wellington and first seeds of the event had to go up against bottom seeds Northland first up. Finn Trimble showed the first upset of the tie with a win in 4 over veteran to these teams events Sam Atkins. Richard Pittams however made up for this and showed Atkins how it was to be done with with a win in 3 over Milton Brookland. Martin Knight took on Quenton Tana not allowing Tana to get started in the match. Willie Bicknell was last on court and whilst Ryan Chestnut pushed him throughout the match it was not enough and Bicknell took the match in 4 and Wellington proceeded on to the next round.

In the Women's Pool Play Central had to backup a tough first round against third seeds Northland. Central got off to a strong start with Mickayla Kerr and Trina Moore battling out an epic five setter and Kerr managing to tip over the line in the fifth game. Jackie Tapp showed her experience in these teams events and took the win over new comer Zoe Dykzeul in 3. Shelley Kitchen got Northland back on track with a win in 3 but this wasn't enough to turn the teams luck around with Sacha Pou-Tito going down to Kaitlyn Watts.

Canterbury also had to back up a second tie straight after their first, the fresh Auckland team made quick work of their first 2 matches with Abbie Palmer and Hayley Hughes taking out Ella Dromgool and Sophie O'Connell in 3. Megan Craig managed to put Canterbury back in the running with a win in 3 over Ellie Epke, however a hard fought match from Nikki Kennedy wasn't enough for the Cantabrians with Priscilla Wildsmith taking the win in 4 for Auckland. 

Round 2 of the Men's Draw saw Eastern and Bay of Plenty battle it out in the plate side of the draw. The Bay managed to clinch the win with Aaron Kopittke, Sean Dykes and Ben Grindrod having 3-0 wins over their opponents Todd Redman, Jordan Le Comte and Cameron Jamieson. Ben Thornton however couldn't find what he needed to and went down in 3 to Chapman Kutia. 

Auckland and Canterbury battled it out for the prized spot in the final of the Men's Inter-District Teams event. Lance Beddoes got Auckland off to a good start beating Chris Van Der Salm in a tough 3 setter with the first and the third going long. Scott Gardiner levelled the score in the second match for Canterbury beating Neil Rossin in 4. Paul Coll managd to take his second win in 24 hours from Campbell Grayson but this time it was in a hard fought 3. All the pressure was on Sion Wiggin to win in 3 for Auckland to proceed but it was Canterbury's Jonny Barnett who clinched the win in the end and sent Canterbury into the final.

The final round of the day was high with tension. In the Women's Pool B Northland and Bay of Plenty had a very close affair of games. Jo Shanks stepped on court first and stopped Northland's Trina Moore from scoring the first point taking the game out 3-0. Next on was Zoe Dykzeul and Holly Donnelly, Donnelly looked to extend the Bay's lead after claiming the first game however Dykzeul stepped up and showed her strength and managed to take the game away in a fast paced four setter. Shelley Kitchen and Amanda Landers-Murphy were next on court with a rematch of their 3/4 playoff from the individuals event. Kitchen took the first game and looked ready to extend the lead however Landers-Murphy made sure there would be none of that and she fought hard eventually taking the game in 4 putting the Bay up 2-1. This left Sacha Pou-Tito to have to win in 3 to ensure a points countback for Northland. Pou-Tito came out and blew away one of the Bay's youngest players Nadia Hubbard in a controlled 3 setter. This left both teams equal on 7 games each and a points countback was underway, with some double checking and calculators going left right and centre the final score was 128-121 and the Bay of Plenty progressed to the Women's Final.

The Waikato Women in Pool A also had a tough battle on their hands against the young Auckland team. First on was Waikato's Kylie Lindsay against Auckland's Abbie Palmer, Palmer and Lindsay started off going game for game before Palmer started to play some great shots which Lidnsay just couldn't retrieve and the first match went the way of Auckland in 4. Next up was Hayley Hughes and Jacinta Matson. Matson was looking to even the score for the Waikato and after taking a 2 game lead it looked set to happen, but some tough fight back from Hughes eventually saw the game fall away from Waiakto and Auckland took the win in 5. Next up Joelle King made sure to make quick work of her younger opponent Ellie Epke, King took the win in 3 showing she was just too strong and patient, putting Waikato back in the running. It was all down to Emma Millar to win the match for the Waikato in any form as they would have the win on games countback, Millar kept this in mind and made sure to put everyones minds to rest beating Priscilla Wildsmith in 3 sending Waikato into the finals.

The Men's Championship side of the Draw saw Wellington stomp out to a quick lead with Evan Williams and Scott Galloway taking their respective wins in 3 over Luke Jones and Stephen Bennett. Martin Knight came up against his old friend Kashif Shuja, with Knight wanting to secure the win for Wellington and Shuja looking to keep Central's hopes alive there were some great choices in shots from both players but Knight took the first 2 games, however Shuja made sure to not let this phase him and he claimed the third game, this was not enough for Central with Knight closing out the match and securing Wellington their spot in the final for the second year. Sam Atkins made sure to show Wellingtons strength and taking out Jason Van Der Walt in the fourth game giving Wellington some great confidence for tomorrows match.

The Men's Plate side of the Draw saw Waikato take on the Northland Men. Northland were ready to try and make the upset with Finn Trimble storming out to a 2 game lead but Zac Millar showed his experience in teams events and he came back stronger and eventually took the match in 5. Reagan Wakeling looked to try and get Northland back on the right path but some strong work from Montell Whatarangi was not enough for the Northland boy and whilst he claimed the second game Whatarangi claimed the match in 4. Chris Lloyd sealed the win for Waikato over Quenton Tana with a win in 3 and Phil Buscke-Somervell did the same thing over Ryan Chestnut with both players just not matching this teams intensity.

Full results can be found on our Facebook page here

There are set to be some tight matches on the final day and games to be played are below

Tuesday Games - Women's Draw

9am - 5/6 - Canterbury vs Northland

9am - 3/4 - Auckland vs Central

11:30am - 1/2 - Waikato vs Bay of Plenty

Men's Draw

9am - 7/8 - Eastern vs Northland

9am - 5/6 - Waikato vs Bay of Plenty

11:30am - 3/4 - Auckland vs Central

11:30am - 1/2 - Wellignton vs Canterbury