Central Finance Rotokare beat Hareb Deken Oakura 9-7 in the Soffe Cup final at Rotokare on Saturday. It was a thriller, befitting of a final, played in good spirits, before a good crowd, in perfect weather.

Oakura captain John Hardie Boys said they were going to "give it a nudge" and they certainly did that.

 

Rotokare were without their No 1 Catherine Stevenson who was at her brother's wedding, but still managed to win two women's singles. No 1 Kelly Toa defeated Alesha Ford 6-3 6-2 and No 4 Maureen Whiting beat Becky Bruckner 10/8 in the third set super tiebreaker.  Rotokare's top three men all had wins, No 1 and captain Ben Pollard beat Graeme Mitchell in a great game, 7-6 0-6 7-6 , Chris Popata beat John Hardie Boys 6-4 6-4 and Mike Roberts beat Aaron Hine 6-3 6-1.  Oakura's No 4 Steve Novak beat Greg Hareb in two sets and No 2 and 3, Sue Oldfield and Miaana Walden beat Karen Cranston and Beccie Atkins respectively.

 

The men's doubles were both excellent close matches with Oakura's Mitchell and Hardie Boys beating Pollard and Popata 6-3 4-6 10-7 and Rotokare's Roberts and Hareb beating Hine and Novak 4-6 6-4 10-8.

The women's doubles were also shared with Rotokare's Toa and Cranston easily beating  Ford and Oldfield and Oakura's Walden and Bruckner beating Atkins and Whiting.

 

Going into the mixed doubles Rotokare were ahead 7-5. Oakura sneared the No 3 match with Hine and Ford beating Roberts and Atkins 9-4 and Rotokare's No 2 combination Popata and Cranston came fom 4-2 down to beat Hardie Boys and Oldfield 9-4. This made the home side ahead 8-6 with two matches in progress. Oakura's No 4 Novak and Walden then beat Hareb and Whiting 9-8 to close the gap to  8-7. The final match finished a couple of minutes later; Rotokare's Pollard and Toa came from behind to seal the win, beating Mitchell and Bruckner 9-7 to great jubilation from their team mates and supporters. 

The win made it back to back titles.

 

In the Wilson Trophy final Waiwaka beat Manaia 13-3 at Waiwaka. 

In the Sumpter Trophy final Inglewood upset Waitara (at Waitara ) on countback. It was 8-8 and Inglewood won 17 sets to 16.