Cosy Dell men maintained their unbeaten record with a 5-1 win over Balmacewen in Dunedin premier club tennis on Saturday.
They also won 6-0 against Mornington-Roslyn in a tie played during the week, following a rained-out round, to extend their lead at the top of the points table.
Closest rival John McGlashan was absent as it was playing in the South Island secondary schools finals. However, as it did not notify its opponent it was not expected to be eligible for a replay against Mornington-Roslyn. Eastern Harbour beat Taieri 6-0 in the other tie.
The return of Cosy Dell's student team, with players from several different provinces, showed up the gap in standards when it is absent.
Even without Otago Open finalist Alex Low from Nelson, it still won comfortably.
Nick Hornstein, a former national junior titleholder, is arguably the classiest player in the Dunedin competition for many seasons.
He had to do little to down James Bourne 6-0, 6-0 with Bourne mixing occasional booming serves with careless errors.
George Alexander pulled one back in an up and down display beating Andrew Baird 6-1, 0-6, 6-4.
The return of coach Shaun Paringatai helped Eastern Harbour to its win, but without No 1 Andrew Mitchell, the Taieri players struggled to adapt to their promotion.
For the women, Mornington-Roslyn took a countback win over Balmacewen/Taieri. Mornington No 1 Nicky Wallace, battling illness, took a set in her 6-7, 6-3, 6-7 loss to the promising Hayley Miller, while the experienced Heike Cebulla-Elder and Fiona Bell won in straight sets.
Eastern Harbour was pushed at times against St Clair but won all six rubbers. St Clair students Scarlett Cuthill and Jessika Brass hit some impressive serves and other winners, but gave up too many unforced errors against Debbie Cartwright and Hannah Seeman respectively.
John McGlashan College upset the more highly favoured Christchurch schools to claim the South Island secondary schools tennis title in Timaru this weekend.
It won after a series of countback results and another result going its way yesterday.
McGlashan opened its campaign with a 6-0 win over Southland Boys' on Friday then beat top seed Christchurch Boys' by three games on countback after rubbers and sets were level on Saturday.
McGlashan's only loss was to Christ's College, by three games on countback.
McGlashan completed its event beating Timaru Boys' 6-0, but then had to wait while the two Christchurch schools fought out an exciting final round.
Christchurch Boys' beat Christ's College, again on countback, leaving McGlashan even on points with Christ's However, because McGlashan had won the tie when the two met, it was declared the winner.
The team of Harry James (unbeaten at No 1), Oliver and Carlos Reid, Paddy Ou and Jong Kyu Kim will go to the national finals with three North Island teams.
