Joyce this week returned from Invercargill with the bragging rights as the under-17 and under-19 South Island champion while Rakairoa collected bronze in the under-13 division.
The year 11 pupil beat Lauren Crowhurst, of Auckland, in the under-19 final in at the annual South Island Junior Championship at SquashCity from July 15-17.
Joyce had to toil but made her intentions clear in the 3-0 result against Crowhurst, posting 11-9, 11-8 and 11-5 in the final.
She beat Emma Cormack (Canterbury) 3-2 in the semifinal of the under-19 grade in Invercargill.
"It was the first time I went to the South Island Champs," says the teenager who this weekend heads off to the North Island Junior Championship where she'll enter for the first time in the under-17 division for the right to etch her name on the Matamata Cup at the Geyser City Squash Club in Rotorua from midday today through to the final on Sunday if she makes the cut.
"I've competed in the lower girls' grades before," says the No 4 seed.
The North Island Champs has a field of 130 to compete in five categories of under-11 to under-19 grades in multiples of two years.
Rakairoa is competing in the under-13 division for the girls' Te Puke Cup.
"It'll be a huge accomplishment if I win," says Joyce who has a goal of finishing in the top three this weekend.
She is expecting stiff challenges from No 3 seed school mate Rhiarne Taiapa who also played in the North Island Senior Championship early this month at the Havelock North Squash Club.
The pair had lost heavily to top seeds Nele Gilis and Megan Craig but, in the process, come out wiser and battle hardened for the juniors. Gilis is the Belgian No1 and plays professionally in Europe.
Joyce also anticipates Ruby Turnbull to ask a few question in the quest for glory this weekend's juniors which will include top seed Nadia Hubbard, of BOP, and No 2 Courtney Trail, of Palmerston North.
"It really depends on what side of the draw I'm on," says the youngster of her chances in Rotorua.
In the under-17 grade in Invercargill last weekend, Joyce won the round-robin competition to add a second trophy to the gold medals and prizemoney.
Aucklander Natalie Sayes emulated Joyce's feat to claim the under-15 and under-13 crowns in the girls' division on the foundation of the under-13 and under-11 ones she won last year.
Remarkably Joyce only started playing squash four years ago after watching her cousin, Scott Galloway, 18, of Wellington.
"He gave me some racquets in Gisborne and said have a go on the court," she said of Galloway who finished runner-up to Luke Jones in an 11-5, 11-6, 11-3 result at the New Zealand Junior Open in Timaru in April last year.
"I had no idea what squash was but he was like 'don't worry there'll be a club in town'," says Joyce who moved to the Bay with her family from Gisborne when she was 11.
"I loved it. I used to play netball before but in squash you rely on your own capabilities."
Fitness, she stresses, is imperative.
"People say you get fit when you play squash but it's quite the opposite.
"You have to be fit to play squash," says the member of both the Havelock as well as Hastings Tennis and Squash Club. In the off season (summer), the Phil Drummond-coached teenager runs up Te Mata Peak.
"I'm definitely setting myself up to be world No 1," she says, mindful of training hard and receiving support, including what she already enjoys in abundance from "awesome" Drummond and her parents.
Joyce, whose father and ex-Kiwi international Lelani Joyce (now Rorani) are cousins, lauds her national elite girls' squad coach, Joanne Williams, who is specific on areas of development. She also thanked her gear sponsors, Tecnifibre.
