14 October 2006
The Soffe Cup
got underway on Saturday in good conditions. Newcomers Rotokare and A.W.E.
Huatoki both had comfortable 12-4 wins and Stratford/Midhirst and Okaiawa
had an 8-8 draw.
Rotokare were
up 5-3 after the singles against Hooker Pacfic Pukekura at Rotokare. All the
men won, with No 1 Chris Popata not conceding a game against Zac Wills. No 2
Greg Hareb won on the third set tiebreak against Ben Aves, 6-2, 5-7,7-6 and
Mark Atkins and Kevin McLoughlin only lost three games between them against
Meto Snegirev and Quinn Rosa. Pukekura's women won three out of four
singles with No 2 Donna Thorne winning a tight game against Val Mcloughlin,
2-6, 6-1,7-6. Kirsten Adam had an easy win against Michelle Atkins and
Jeanette Harding beat 11 year old Soffe Cup debutant Beccie Atkins 6-3, 6-2.
Rotokare's No 1 Leith Atkins, whose three children are in the team, had a
6-4, 6-4 win over Linda Reid. Rotokare only lost one more match; the
No 2 women's doubles with Adam and Harding winning 6-1, 6-0 against Michelle
and Beccie Atkins.
A.W.E. Huatoki
led 6-2 after the singles against Waiwaka, at Waiwaka. The men's singles
were shared with Huatoki's No 1 and 3 Jonathan Ussher and Neil Bridgeman
defeating Jordan Stayt and Rhys Sutton. Waiwaka's Stuart Wood and David
Chamberlain evened the score with wins over Roy Gaskin and 13 year old
Alistair Nairn, both making their debuts. Huatoki's women are their
strength and No 1 Janice Taylor defeated Jayden Bruce in three sets. The
rest of the women, Chris Wilson, Robyn Hinton and Megan Walsh had
comfortable wins over Yvonne Chamberalin, Alison Chamberlain and Ana
McSeveny. Huatoki continued their winning way, only dropping the top
women's doubles and no 2 men's doubles.
The biggest
surprise of the round was the draw between Stratford/Midhirst and Okaiawa at
Midhirst. The home team were favoured but Okaiawa proved they are not going
to be easybeats. In a tie that was even throughout, Stratford/Midhirst won
the top two men's singles. Gavin Phelan defeated Andrew Powell 6-1, 6-4 and
Michael O'Sullivan defeated Len Adamson, (gained from Kaponga), 6-4, 7-6.
Okaiawa won the No 3 and 4 singles both in third set tiebreakers. Andrew
Baylis beat Grant Kite 6-1,3-6,7-6 while his son Vincent beat Stephen
Uhlenberg 2-6, 6-3, 7-6.
In the womens'
matches Okaiawa's No 1 Joanne Gyde defeated Min Zimmerman 6-3, 7-5 while No
4 Moira Daly defeated Liz O'Sullivan 6-4, 6-0. Stratford/Midhirst
evened the score with their No 2 Kesli Bevins and No 3 Maree Kydd having
wins over Megan Gyde and Michelle Powell.
In the doubles
Stratford/Midhirst won both the men's matches and Okaiawa's women won both
theirs. The combines were even with Stratford/Midhirst taking out the
top two and Okaiawa the No 3 and 4 matches.