SHANE HURNDELL
Former United States NCAA national championship player Andy Doole is one of four Hawke's Bay players in the Central Districts tennis team for next month's national championships.
Doole, 23, has been based in Auckland for the past 18 months but qualifies for the Central Districts team through his membership of the Hawke's Bay Lawn Tennis club.
"This will be the Bay's biggest contingent ever in the CD team and I'm looking forward to being a part of it," said Doole who joins Greendale's Luke Donovan and the Havelock North pair of Shane Wilson and Emma Yule in the team for the January 16-19 championships in Ashburton.
Leading his Rockhurst University team to a top 30 finish in the United States NCAA national championships in 2002 was the highlight of Doole's four-year scholarship in the States. He also returned home with a degree in business management and economics.
The former Hawke's Bay No.1 is playing Caro Bowl Reserve interclub for the Gladstone club in Auckland.
"Work commitments don't allow me to play in the top level," said Doole who works in the foreign exchange trading area of the ASB Bank.
Donovan, Wilson and Yule joined Greendale's Bronwyn French as members of the Hawke's Bay team which won the Central Districts inter-provincial tournament for the first time recently.
Playing in Nelson, Hawke's Bay beat Manawatu 4-2, Wanganui by one set on countback after matches were drawn 3-all, Marlborough 5-1 and Nelson by one set on countback after matches were drawn 3-all.
Hawke's Bay finished the two-day tournament with 25 points, Manawatu were second on 22, Wanganui third on 19, Nelson fourth on 14 and Marlborough fifth on two. Donovan and Wilson were unbeaten in singles and doubles play, Yule recorded three singles wins and a loss, French lost all of her singles and Yule and French won one of their four doubles matches.
Meanwhile, three more Hawke's Bay junior tennis representatives have been selected in Central Districts age group teams. Nelson Park's James Waddell has been added to the CD under-14 team while the Havelock North pair of Sophie Addis and Phillip Riley have been added to the CD under-12 team.
Waddell joins Clive's Tem Asafuadjaye and the Havelock North pair of Robert Creiffer and Kate Parker as the Bay reps in the CD under-14 team which will be coached by Hawke's Bay's Trevor Hinton.
Their team's national teams championships will be in Auckland from January 11-13 and from January 14-19 they will play in the national hard-court championships for their age group in Auckland.
Riley and Addis join their clubmate James Southon in the CD under-12 team which will play in their national teams championships in Hamilton from January 3-5.
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