Surf City Squash Club players win four out of five divisions

Heading to Te Puke: The Surf City Squash Club F Grade men’s team have won the right to contest Superchamps in Te Puke in September. They are (from left): Andrew Bartlett, Billy Callaghan, Ky Bartlett, Sean Ruru and Kavagn Wanoa. Picture supplied

Surf City Squash Club teams have won four out of the five divisions they entered at the Eastern District Eliminations held in Hastings last weekend.

The divisional wins give the successful teams the right to move on to Superchamps in September.

The E Grade men's team won 3-2 against Hastings and 4-1 against Hawke's Bay Squash Racquets. Team members were Jereme Taylor, Maia Nikora, Jarrod Carter, Connor Fahey and Daniel Murphy.

Taylor, Carter and Fahey were all members of the national champion men's F Grade team in 2020 and have since moved up a grade and are still winning.

The E Grade women won 5-0 against Waipukurau and 4-1 against Hawke's Bay Lawn Tennis and Squash. The team — Natalie Mackey, Kiri Collier, Awhina White, Maia Hogarth, Bella Seymour-Manual and Tamara Douglas — have been training hard since March with coaches Avon Moleta and Casey Miller.

Surf City Squash Club president Daniel Newman says the team looks “really strong”, and he believes they could go deep in the national tournament being held in Gisborne in September.

The F Grade men's team — Ky Bartlett, Sean Ruru, Billy Callaghan, Kavagn Wanoa and Andrew Bartlett —had victories over Havelock North, 4-1, and Hastings, 3-2, to progress through to defend their national title. Junior player Ky Bartlett is returning to the team after being No.5 last year, moving up to the Number 1 slot this year.

The F Grade women's team beat Havelock North 3-2 and Hastings 5-0 to move on to Superchamps.

Coach Kandyce Bevan said team members Amy McNay, Connie Gardner, Lane Bartlett, Rose Reiri and Florence Faulks all played outstanding squash and she was really proud and excited to see them progress to the nationals.

The C Grade men's team of Matt Tietjen, Mark Beard, Jonny Hardie, Jamie Brodie and Bruce Taiapa finished runners-up. Defending the district title, the team had 3-2 wins against Hawke's Bay Squash Racquets and Hastings but lost 3-2 to Hawke's Bay Lawn Tennis and Squash. The guys played some great squash and almost pulled off a great victory. C grade is really strong within the district and it is a hard task to get through to nationals.

In each of the past five years a different eastern team has won the right to represent the Eastern district at nationals.

“We only just scraped together five players, thanks to team No.1 Matt Tietjen rearranging plans to help the team,” Newman said.

“The team had a target on their back after getting through last year and I'm really proud of the effort they put forward to compete in three tough games in two days.”

Newman said the beauty of the E Grade success was that the E Grade national event would be in Gisborne.

“Having both a men's and women's team at our own nationals will create a great atmosphere with plenty of support from family, friends and club members over the week in September.”

The F Grade National Superchamps will be in Te Puke. This is the second consecutive year the club has sent away two F Grade teams. These teams largely consist of players who have started playing over the past 12 months.

Newman said the club was excited and proud to be sending away four teams to represent Squash Eastern at the national superchamps event in September.