Squash: Three national titles for Bay

DOUBLE DELIGHT: Members of the Hastings Squash Club's national title winning F grade (front) and B grade women's (back) teams. PHOTO/DUNCAN BROWN

"Three girls from the Dodgers softball team turned up to play squash at our Hastings club in the off season. We ended up taking them all to nationals," Drummond said pointing to Whitney Nohokau, Paula Hokianga and Deanna Paul who were all members of Dodgers title-winning national interclub team in 2014.

Paul, who is also the White Sox trainer, sports medic and masseur, was one of five unbeaten players for Drummond's F grade women who won their Auckland-hosted nationals at the Remuera club with an unbeaten run including a 4-1 victory against Ohakune in their final. Juanita Eagle, Hannah Peta, Maja Sanders and Marise Johnson were also unbeaten.

Drummond, 75, has been coaching at the Hastings club since 1984. His first national title was won in 1986 and he had previously coached the club's D and E grade women to national titles.

"I prefer women's teams because you only have to tell them things once. I'll coach these girls again next year and they will probably be ready for the D grade nationals by then if they keep working as hard as they have been," Drummond said.

With the Hastings B grade women winning their nationals at the Hawke's Bay club in Napier and the Hawke's Bay club's D grade women winning their New Plymouth-hosted nationals, also with unbeaten runs, the Squash Eastern district was the best in the country for the second consecutive year with the most wins. This year Eastern was first equal with Bay of Plenty who also won three titles.

The "baby" of the team and No 2, 15-year-old Winona-Jo Joyce, was the toast of the Hastings B grade women as they won their title for the first time. She won the deciding match in a 3-2 final win against Hamilton and is on the verge of joining No 1 Rhiarne Taiapa in the A grade ranks.

She could achieve this status at the Hamilton-hosted junior nationals which begin tomorrow. Hastings bounced back from a 2-1 deficit against Hamilton and the title was particularly sweet for No 4 Mel Goodchild who been in four previous teams at this level which were unable to deliver a title.

"While none of us were unbeaten during the week most of us only had one loss. We were a good team with a great bond and everybody clicked," Goodchild said.

Hawke's Bay's D grade women beat Auckland club Royal Oak 4-1 in the final of their nationals played at the Kawaroa Park club. Three players, No 1 Carol Goldsmith, No 2 Rebecca Mcintosh and No 4 Jess Ennor were all unbeaten.

"We played 25 matches over the four days and only dropped three. With three juniors in our team the average age was 22 and that was a big key to our success," manager Scott Applegate said.

Hawke's Bay's three national title-winning teams were:
Hastings B grade women: Rhiarne Taiapa, Winona-Jo Joyce, Tania Tatana-Walker, Mel Goodchild, Rosemary Mair, Jess Dean, Kate Graham. Coach: Amesh Taiapa.

Hawke's Bay D grade women: Carol Goldsmith, Rebecca Mcintosh, Danielle Pilcher, Jess Ennor, Charlotte Lewis, Sara Dooney. Coach: Don Matthews. Manager: Scott Applegate.

Hastings F grade women: Whitney Nohokau, Juanita Eagle, Deanna Paul, Hannah Peta, Maja Sanders, Marise Johnson, Paula Hokianga. Coaches: Dave Drummond and Lorraine Claydon. Manager: Rebekah Anderton.