20 Nov 2014
Competition leaders Farmlands
Okaiawa/Manaia host 3rd place AWE Huatoki. The home team's men
appear to have a slight edge on paper and the home, hard-court advantage may be
all that helps to consolidate matches their way. Mark Laurence and Vince
Baylis, at the top of the order take on Huatoki's Alistair Nairn and David Innes
respectively. Josh Murdoch should have the edge over the tall stature of Chris
Avery at No.3. The No.4 match sees Rhys Butler take on 12 year old Jayden
Harrison making his Soffe Cup debut for Huatoki. Harrison recently finished 2nd
at the Tennis Central Masters and it will be interesting to observe how he
manages to cope against an adult at this level.
The Huatoki ladies consisting of Hikaru Han, Tracey Old, Chris Wilson and Ellen
O'Byrne are all very accomplished players and would be expected to dominate,
however in most of the matchups the Okaiawa/Manaia ladies have similar rankings
to their opponents and it may not be all one way traffic. Grace Kelly returns
from university and slots in at No.1, pushing Lauren Fraine, Capree Wineera and
Carolyn Jackson down the order.
The team that can pick up three doubles matches may have an strong advantage
going into the combines and could hang on for a victory.
4th placed
Inglewood Club Inglewood have their 2nd home tie against 2nd
placed RE/MAX Pukekura Park and may again get a winning result. Pukekura have
Louise Waite making her season debut at No.1 and she should be untroubled by
Krystal Oakes. Linda Reid will likewise be too strong for Maria Spurdle at
No.2, however matches even up at No.3 with Pukekura's Pam Clough having to
battle against Michaela Spurdle and Rebecca Wormald having to combat the
higher-ranked Alex Spurdle.
Inglewood are hoping to see the return of Thomas Brown at No.1 and he will be
too good for Matt Bayley. The rest of the Inglewood men; Malcolm Masters, Luke
Brown and Campbell Mace should also be far too accomplished for Thomson Matuku,
Dion Lundt and Josh Wormald. Expect Inglewood to have a good lead after the
singles and doubles. Their aim would be to at least share the combines to
ensure a good victory over their city neighbours.
Bottom of the table
Thomson O'Neil Stratford will meet 6th placed Hareb Deken Oakura at the TET complex in Stratford and an upset is on the cards.
Stratford's Andy Roberts takes on veteran Len Adamson in the No.1 match. Both
players had surprising, 3 set, first round singles losses and will want to get
their first win on the board. Give this match to Roberts having a home court
advantage. The No.2 match will be intriguing with the very experienced Bruce
Cleland taking on one of the up and coming Taranaki juniors, Caleb Fleming.
Expect this match to go the full distance with the home court advantage and
extra experience swinging the match Cleland's way. The remaining men's
matches are predicted to also go to Stratford.
Lynn Stanners returns at the top of the order
for the Stratford ladies and she will have to be at the top of her game to
overcome another junior in Danni Fletcher. Fletcher will have the better in
shot-winning strokes but Stanners will be more consistent and should come
through. Mylie Thwaites will struggle at No.2 against the practiced racquet of
Chris Davies and the No.3 and No.4 matches could go either way.