25 Feb 2018

Soffe Cup Report for Saturday 24^th February

Soffe Cup got going again after the representative fixture break the weekend before.

Pihama hosted Rotokare and were soundly beaten 12-4.  With both the Fleming brothers unavailable for Pihama it was always going to be a long day for the club.  Patrick Stevenson halted the Rotokare onslaught with a 7-5 6-3 win over Shane Devlin.  In fact, 3 of the 4 Pihama victories involved Patrick Stevenson; a bright spot in an otherwise long day for Pihama.  The other exception was Grace Kelly’s hard fought 3-6 6-3 6-2 victory over Karen Cranston.  It is surprising that Pihama fielded an under-strength team as this was a tie where they could have gained a lot more points.  With fourth place and a semi-final spot still possible, Pihama will want to turn out their best possible side next week.

Huatoki were at home to Pukekura and were also fielding a relatively under-strength line up.  This resulted in a dominant Pukekura victory 15-1.  The Pukekura women were particularly dominant, conceding just 6 games over all four singles matches.  The effort of Tracey Old must be acknowledged against Louise Waite.  Waite is a quality player who is off to a United States College on a tennis scholarship.  Players from other clubs have defaulted against her, seeing it as a waste of time to even play.  Old not only took to the court but managed to take a game.  Huatoki’s Alistair Nairn and Chris Wilson managed a victory in the combines over Pukekura’s Brady Simpson and Ella Rogers.

Okaiawa/Manaia played at home to Oakura and recorded a comfortable 11-5 win.  After the singles it was a relatively even split with Okaiawa/Manaia claiming a 5 matches to 3 lead.  Perhaps the match of the round came in the men’s singles when Josh Murdoch defeated Simon Spurdle 6-4 4-6 7-6(3).  Okaiawa/Manaia’s men were more dominant and claimed both the doubles, whilst the women’s doubles matches were split one a piece.  It left Oakura needing to win all the mixed doubles matches to force a count back. but Okaiawa/Manaia won all four and carried the day comfortably.

This week will see Oakura take on Huatoki, Pukekura play Pihama and Okaiawa/Manaia meet Rotokare.  The last semi-final spot is still in doubt so all teams will be playing hard for positions.

Results

Soffe Cup
Huatoki 1 Pukekura 15, Pihama 4 Rotokare 12, Okaiawa/Manaia 11 Oakura 5 

Wilson Trophy
Rotokare 3 Pukekura 13, Stratford 5 Inglewood 11, Huatoki 4 Hawera 12, Matapu 8 Oakura 8 (Matapu win on count back 149-140) 

Sumpter Trophy
Waitara 10 Waiwaka 6, Pukekura Yellow 5 South Combined 11, Pukekura Green 13 Huatoki 3, Oakura bye

Points

Soffe Cup
Pukekura 86.5, Rotokare 77, Oakura 63.5, Huatoki 57.5, Okaiawa/Manaia 55.5, Pihama 51

Wilson Trophy
Stratford 125, Inglewood 121, Pukekura 120.5, Hawera 103, Matapu 80.5, Rotokare 68.5, Oakura 56, Huatoki 52