20 Mar 2016
In what promised to be an extremely close overall Soffe Cup
final, Huatoki managed to have the strengths in the right places to quell
Pukekura Park 9-7.
As expected, the Pukekura Park ladies picked up 3 of their singles matches.
Louise Waite beat Hikaru Han 6-1 6-3, Kirsten Adam won over Tracey Old by the
same score and Marcella Jones was too strong for Chris Wilson 6-3 6-2.
Huatoki's Ellen O'Byrne continued her dominance over Donna Thorne 6-3 6-2.
Also predictable was Huatoki's dominance of the men's matches. Ajeet Rai
was totally untroubled by Meto Snegirev 6-0 6-0, Jayden Harrison had a very
strong performance over David Barnard 6-1 6-0 and Chris Popata had too much
experience over Thomson Matuku 6-0 7-5. Alistair Nairn (Huatoki No.3) was
able to reverse a recent round robin loss when he comfortably disposed of Andrew
Hood 6-4 6-1. Nairn's win could be considered an upset result and Huatoki
should be toasting the individual effort as without it they may well have lost
the final on a countback.
Leading 5-3 after singles play, Huatoki won both men's doubles 6-2 6-0 and 6-0
6-1 whilst Pukekura Park won both ladies doubles 6-2 7-5 and 6-1 6-3.
This left the overall score at 7-5 after the doubles and Huatoki needed to share
the combined doubles to secure the win. Rai/Wilson took the first of those
matches 9-1 over Snegirev/Thorne but Barnard/Waite brought Pukekura Park back
into it with a 9-3 win over Harrison/Han. Huatoki then sealed the victory
when Nairn/O'Byrne overcame Hood/Adam 9-4. The final match saw Pukekura
Park win via Matuku/Jones over Popata/Old 9-7.
In the Wilson Trophy final played at Matapu, the result was even closer.
Matapu and Pukekura Park shared the singles, doubles and combines to finish at 8
rubbers each. The teams were still even on a countback of sets and
Pukekura Park was established as the winner only after a countback of individual
games won, 154-149.
Results
Soffe Cup Final
Huatoki 9 Pukekura Park 7
Ajeet Rai b Meto Snegirev 6-0 6-0
Jayden Harison b David Barnard 6-1 6-0
Alistair Nairn b Andrew Hood 6-4 6-1
Chris Popata b Thomson Matuku 6-0 7-5
Hikaru Han lost to Louise Waite 6-1 6-3
Tracey Old lost to Kirsten Adam 6-1 6-3
Ellen O'Byrne b Donna Thorne 6-3 6-2
Chris Wilson lost to Marcella Jones 6-3 6-2
Rai/Nairn b Snegirev/Matuku 6-2 6-0
Harrison/Popata b Barnard/Hood 6-0 6-1
Han/Old lost to Waite/Thorne 6-2 7-5
O'Byrne/Wilson lost to Adam/Jones 6-1 6-3
Rai/Wilson b Snegirev/Thorne 9-1
Harrison/Han lost to Barnard/Waite 9-3
Nairn/O'Byrne b Hood/Adam 9-4
Popata/Old lost to Matuku/Jones 9-7
Wilson Trophy Final
Matapu 8 Pukekura Park 8 (Pukekura Park won on a countback of games 154-149)
Sumpter Trophy
Oakura 10 Stratford 6, Hawera 10 Huatoki 6, Pukekura Park 10 Rotokare 6.
Points
Pukekura Park 91, Oakura 67, Rotokare 64, Hawera 63, Huatoki 43, Stratford 28 South
Combined 20.