Day 2 of Junior Nationals

It was another big day of squash down at SquashCity Invercargill. The games started to see players throwing everything on the line to progress to the next round.

The top 2 seeds Abbie Palmer and Ellie Epke had a Bye in the first round of the Under 19 Girls. There were some tough battles throughout this draw. Lauren Clarke lost a tight first to Tyler Duberly but Clarke picked it up in the second forcing Duberly to make a number of errors and eventually took the match in 4. Nikki Kennedy and Ruby Beresford sessawed in the first 2 games and after a tight third game going Kennedy's way it ended up being Kennedy's match with a win in 4. Juee Bhide and Kaitlyn Watts both looked comfortable taking out Abby Wotten and Sian Duggan in 3. Camden Te Kani-McQueen took her first game against Katie Fairweather relatively comfortably but Fairweather pushed her hard in the second to level the score. However Fairweather wasn't able to find another win, but she made sure to push Te Kani-McQueen to her limits. The battle of the first round was between 7th and 10th seeds Lauren Crowhurst and Casey Owen. Both players played some quick shots and placed the ball in excellent spots on the court. The match went to the deciding fifth and it ended up being Owens day with a long fifth game falling in her favour.

Round 2 of the Under 19 Girls saw top seed Ellie Epke beat Lauren Clarke in 3, whilst snd seed Abbie Palmer defeated Casey Owen in 3 as well.

In the second round of the Boys Under 19 top seed Luke Jones had a comfortable win over Fergus Mckinnon in 3. One of the amtches of the round was between Jayden Millard and Tyler Ranger. Millard and Ranger were 9th and 8th seeds respectively. This match saw some fast paced squash played by both players and a number of errors at crucial points in the match. However today was not to be Rangers day and he eventually went down in 5. Rafa Yam had to show his worth on court against the 13th seed Charlie Barker. After Yam took the first 2 games Barker came out firing and managed to level the game score to 4. However this was not meant to be the upset of the draw with Yam winning in 5. Jamie Oakley took a comfortable win in 3 against Tohe Wanoa whilst Ben Farris after having a default round 1 had to play his much higher opponent and club mate Michael Shelton Agar, Farris put up a good battle but couldn't manage a huge upset. Team mates Max Trimble and Montell Whatarangi had to battle it out for continuing in the main draw. Today didn't proove to be Whatarangi's day with him going down in a tough 4 to Trimble. Scott Galloway looked comfortable in his win over Ben Roughan taking the match in 3.

The Girls Under 17 draw again went to plan for the top seeds. The Girls Under 15 saw Annaleise Faint manage to topple her higher seeded opponent Charlotte Galloway in 5, but it was smooth sailing for the other seeds in the draw. Nothing unusual went on in the Under 13 or 11 Girls with all players matching their seedings.

The Boys Under 17 draw saw all the higher seeded players winning in 3 to proceed to the quarter finals. There was no major upsets in the Boys Under 15 draw either. The Boys Under 13 saw all but one higher seeded player proceed through. Braedyn Henderson 11th seed managed to claim the win over 6th seed Nathan Briggs in 3. The Under 11's saw the top seeds looking comfortable, but it was shaky at one point for Noah Thomas where he had to fight back from 2/1 down to win the match against Freddie Jameson. 

Games kick off at Stadium Southland and Squash CIty at 8:30am tomorrow.

Full draws and game results can be found on the Squash City website here

Girls Main Draw - Round 1 

(1) Ellie Epke vs BYE

Lauren Clarke bt Tyler Duberly - 8/11, 11/2, 11/3, 11/3

Nikki Kennedy bt Ruby Beresford - 11/3, 6/11, 12/10, 11/8

(4) Juee Bhide bt Abby Wotten - 11/6, 11/4, 11/8

(3) Kaitlyn Watts bt Sian Duggan - 11/5, 11/2, 11/6

Camden Te Kani-McQueen bt Katie Fairweather - 11/3, 10/12, 11/8, 11/8

Casey Owen bt Lauren Crowhurst - 6/11, 11/5, 11/6, 8/11, 12/10

(2) Abbie Palmer vs BYE

Girls Main Draw - Round 2

(1) Ellie Epke bt Lauren Clarke - 11/3, 11/3, 11/2

Nikki Kennedy vs (4) Juee Bhide 

(3) Kaitlyn Watts vs Camden Te Kani-McQueen 

Casey Owen vs (2) Abbie Palmer - 11/8, 11/3, 11/9

Boys Main Draw - Round 2 

(1) Luke Jones bt Fergus McKinnon - 11/2, 11/6, 11/7

Jayden Millard bt (8) Tyler Ranger - 4/11, 11/9, 15/13, 12/14, 11/8

(5) Alex Revington bt David Matthews - 11/6, 9/11, 11/3, 11/1

(4) Rafa Yam bt Charlie Barker - 12/10, 11/5, 9/11, 9/11, 11/6

(3) Jamie Oakley bt Tohe Wanoa - 11/7, 11/2, 12/10

Michael Shelton Agar bt Ben Faris - 11/7, 11/0, 11/8

Max Trimble bt (7) Montell Whatarangi - 11/9, 8/11, 11/6, 11/6

(2) Scott Galloway bt Ben Roughan - 11/4, 11/4, 11/5

Boys Main Draw - Round 3 

(1) Luke Jones vs Jayden Millard 

(5) Alex Revington vs (4) Rafa Yam 

(3) Jamie Oakley vs Michael Shelton Agar 

Max Trimble vs (2) Scott Galloway