9 March 2006
The last round of the
Soffe Cup before the semifinals takes place tomorrow. The top two
teams, Hooker Pacific Pukekura and Sandfords Manaia play each other at
Pukekura. Manaia are favoured to win having beaten Pukekura 13-3 in
the first round.
In the men's singles,
the top match is between Manaia's Jason Mills and Zac Wills which Mills
should win although he only won in the third set tie-break the last time
they met. The rest of the matches are likely to be Thomas Luxton and Meto
Snegirev, Cameron Koch and Ben Aves and Alaister Murdoch and Nick Steventon.
Manaia should win all of those.
Manaia are also favoured
in all the women's matches with Taranaki's top two players, Nicole Koch and
Linda Reid playing each other, Koch won in three sets in the first round. In
the other matches Aleisha Ford plays Donna Thorne, with Ford also winning in
three sets last time they met. Cindy Death plays Kirsten Adam and Irene
Cruikshank plays Jeanette Harding.
The third and fourth
placed teams, Midhirst and Accent on Curtains Waiwaka play each other at
Waiwaka. In the first round Midhirst won 10-6, but the result could go
either way this time.
The top men's singles is
between Taranaki and Waiwaka No 1, Aaron Hine playing Taranaki No 6 Jono
Ussher. Ussher won last time so Hine will be out to even the score. The No 2
match is between Taranaki No 4, Chris Popata and Michael O'Sullivan which
Popata should win comfortably.
Taranaki No 4 Nicki
Martin should repeat her win over Lyn Stanners in the top women's match
while Jayden Bruce will have to step up to No 2 as Clare Fairey has gone
overseas. Bruce will probably find it too tough against Shelley Childs.
In the remaining match
Kaponga should win against a Stratford side which has struggled all season.