Otago produced a solid performance at the weekend to reclaim the Margaret Rennie Trophy for just the second time in 20 years.
Going into Sunday needing a win against Southern Lakes, the depth of the women’s team helped pull Otago through.
Charlie Byers, Jenna Bowie and Andrea Ryder had straight-sets wins over Jo Clarke, Kaitlyn Tooley and Karen Mitchell respectively.
At No 2 singles, Julia Newman came back to beat Amanda Leith 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 7-5. At 5-5, 0-40 in the third, Newman hit some massive forehands to reel off the next two games and give Otago the sweep in the women’s singles.
Haruya Higuchi (Lakes) then took down Mathew Campbell 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-4 to get Lakes within one match of Otago.
The match of the day was between Otago’s Jaden Grinter and Lakes’ Dan Milburn.
In a battle of contrasting styles, the first two sets were split as Grinter’s power was contrasted with Milburn’s speed and agility.
With both players holding serve in the third, Grinter looked likely to get the crucial break as he had Milburn under pressure at 3-4, 0-30 and 5-6, 15-40. However, some big serves from Milburn helped him force a tiebreak for the third.
A solid tiebreak from both players featured Milburn getting a match point at 6-5, only to have Grinter produce a half-volley backhand flick to even it back up.
A big serve and forehand then helped Grinter wrap up the match 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (8-6).
Up 5-3 after singles, Otago won three out of four doubles in straight sets to wrap up the tie 8-4.
Earlier in the event, Otago had wins over North Otago and Southland, whereas Lakes suffered rare losses against the latter teams.
Spearheaded by Belinda Hirst, North Otago swept the women’s matches against Lakes.
Lakes then won all men’s matches but Ryan Watt and Connor Brosnahan got a crucial set against Crockett and Noa Milburn, 1-6, 6-1, 11-9, giving North Otago a countback win.
The tie between Southland and Lakes came down to the last match as Rafferty McIntosh and Ansh Kundu took on Dan Milburn and Higuchi.
McIntosh and Kundu triumphed 5-7, 7-5, 10-8, giving Southland a memorable victory.
In the last tie, North Otago beat Southland 8-4, giving them an impressive two of three wins for the weekend.
— Paddy Ou
