31 January 2009

Hareb Deken Oakura and Sandfords Manaia fought out an 8 all draw in the feature match in the Soffe Cup  at the Oakura courts on Saturday.
In a tight struggle , the singles were shared , with both teams winning two men's and two women's matches.
Both sides did not have their  top line-ups with Jordan Fleming and Cameron Koch missing for Manaia and John Hardie Boys, Alesha Ford and Miaana Walden missing for Oakura.
Oakura' s No 1 and 2 Josh Walden and Graeme Mitchell won their singles against Jacob Gopperth and Michael Gates while Manaia's No 3 and 4, Alaister Murdoch and Steve Lloyd beat Teihorangi Walden and Len Adamson. The top two women's singles matches were decided in the third set tiebreaker with No 1 Nicole Koch just edging out Sue Oldfield and Oakura's Becky Bruckner beating Ginny Death. Manaia's No 3 Helen Johnston beat Jill Barron while Oakura's Chris Davies evened it up again by beating Maree Gopperth.
The doubles went the same way, with the two teams locked 6- all heading into the mixed doubles.
But the deadlock could not be broken , with Hareb Deken Oakura taking the top two matches and Sandfords Manaia claiming the bottom two. The No 4 match was won 9/8, Lloyd and Gopperth defeated Adamson and Davies.
 
    Competition frontrunner Rotokare whitewashed Hawera 16-0, with the South Taranaki side not helping its cause with only three men in its line-up meaning three defaulted games.
Central Finance Rotokares' top men's player, Ben Pollard was in good form beating Neil McCann 7-5,6-2,  while in the women's games Kelly Toa proved too strong for Mary Ellen Annabell winning 6-1,6-0 at the top of the order.
 
    Fifth placed AWE Huatoki had too much fire power for Matapu at the Huatoki courts in New Plymouth, winning 11-5.
Huatoki's Jonothan Ussher had to work hard to head off David White 6-4,7-5 in the top men's match, while Chris Wilson lost her top women's match to McDonald Real Estate Matapu's Krystal Oakes 6-4, 6-3.
 
    Hooker Pacific Pukekura completed a 16-0 clean - sweep over bottom placed Lockwood Design and Build Okaiawa in New Plymouth. The city side dominated both the singles and doubles, with only one match going to three sets - Tony Radich and Dennis Reid combining to beat Mark Laurence and Vincent Baylis 4-6, 6-2, 7-6.