25 February 2006
Soffe Cup
Review
Competition leader
Hooker Pacific Pukekura were given a fright by Accent on Curtains Waiwaka at
the Waiwaka courts on Saturday. Waiwaka men won all their singles, No 1
Aaron Hine returned from injury to defeat Zac Wills 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 while no
2 and 3 , Chris Popata and Jordan Stayt were not troubled in their singles
against Ben Aves and Meto Snegirev, winning 6-0, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-2. No 4 Rhys
Sutton has a close 7-6, 6-4 win over Nick Steventon.
Pukekura's women evened
the score, winning all their singles. No 1 Linda Reid defeated Nicki Martin
6-2,6-4 while No 2 Donna Thorne was too good for Clare Fairey. No 3 Kirsten
Adam had a close 7-5, 6-4 victory over Jayden Bruce while Jeanette Harding
completed the clean sweep winning 6-3, 6-2 over Glenda Frost.
The men's doubles were
shared with Pukekura's Wills and Steventon winning in the third set tie
break over Hine and Stayt and Waiwaka's Popapta and Sutton having a 6-2, 6-2
win over Aves and Snegirev.
Pukekura won both
women's doubles in close games while they won two combines, one by default,
to take the tie 9-7.
As expected Sandfords
Manaia had an easy win over Kaponga. They only dropped one match, No 2
Thomas Luxton lost 6-7, 3-6 to Mark Atkins. The rest of the matches were
easy wins except the top women's doubles. Taranaki rep players Nicole Koch
and Aleisha Ford were taken to three sets by Krystal Oakes and Maree Jones.
Midhirst had an easy
12-4 win at home against Stratford. Playing with only three women,
Stratford were always going to struggle to be competitive.
Midhirst's,No 1 Jonathan
Ussher defeated Bruce Cleland 6-4, 6-2 while Micheal O'Sullivan beat Grant
Kite 6-7, 6-3, 7-6.
Stratford's No 3 and 4
evened the score with Hasley Lobb and Craig Oliver having easy wins over
Stephen Uhlenberg and Val Cleaver.
Midhirst's women won all
their matches. No 1 and 3, Lyn Stanners and Marlene Foreman had easy wins
over Brenda Gibbons and Kelsi Bevins while Emmah Ussher had a close win over
Min Zimmerman, 7-5, 7-5.
With only one week
remaining before the semifinals, the top four have already been decided.
Pukekura and Manaia have a big lead over Midhirst and Waiwaka and will be
top qualifiers. It is just the order which will be decided on 11th March.
Kaponga is 9.5 points
behind Waiwaka on 47 and will not be able to overtake them. Stratford are a
distant 6th on 31.
Wilson Trophy
Okaiawa 11 Ecolab Manaia
5, Huatoki 12 Oakura 4, Matapu 15 Stratford 1
Sumpter
Trophy
Inglewood 13 Matapu 3,
Oakura defeated Manaia 1 by default, Huatoki 9 Manaia 7, Okaiawa 11 Waiwaka
5.
Points
Soffe Cup
Pukekura 91, Manaia
89.75, Midhirst 64.5, Waiwaka 58.75, Kaponga 47, Stratford 31.5
Wilson Trophy
Okaiawa 93.25, Matapu
91.75, Huatoki 67.75, Manaia 57.75, Oakura 41, Stratford 15.75
Sumpter
Trophy
Okaiwa 87.5, Inglewood
84.5, Waiwaka 79, Huatoki 55, Oakura 54.75, Matapu 53, Manaia (1) 52.75,
Manaia (2) 43