Tararua C grade ladies off to squash nationals

Peter Arnott (coach) , Elizabeth Law, Rachel Vincent, Abby Treder, Kayla Ryan. Front: Vice-captain Becky West, captain Emily Chamberlain

The Tararua Ladies Squash C Grade Team travelled to New Plymouth on the weekend of July 24/25, to compete in the C Grade Central Districts Super champs teams tournament.

The team of six, which included Emily Chamberlain, Kayla Ryan, Becky West, Rachel Vincent Abby Treder and Elizabeth Law and Coached by Pete Arnott, was seeded three out of six teams from all over the Central Region.

Their first game was on the Friday night against bottom seeded Rangitikei. The games were very tough but Tararua managed to come away with a 3-2 win but unfortunately left them with their No 1 seed and captain Emily suffering an injury during her match.

Saturday, the girls had two games, with a number out through injury. This meant all the girls had to move up in their seeding. Playing fifth seeds Levin first up, the girls played hard squash with Tararua coming away with a 5-0 win.

Next up, on Saturday night, they faced the second-seeded KP team. They knew this was going to be tough and with Emily still injured, the girls were determined to win this and yes they came away with a 3-2 win, but leaving their No 3 Becky West with an Injury.

Sunday, the girls had a very early start with their first game up against No 1 seeds Palmerston North Squash Gym, with Emily still carrying a slight injury.

She was able to play, but Becky was out for the last two games with her injury. The girls were very nervous coming up against the top team, with a few encouraging words from coach Pete and some very tough hard-fought games, the very determined Tararua Girls came away with an awesome 5-0 win.

Finally they faced No 4 seeds and tournament hosts Okato, who were unbeaten, so this was always going to be very tough.

Tararua played hard with most going to five games.

Going into the fifth game Tararua were down 3-1, so the game was a must-win and they obliged.

That result meant the girls won the Central Districts C Grade Super Champs and qualified for Nationals.

They will now travel to Hawke's Bay on September 23-26 to compete in the C Grade Women's Nationals against teams from all over New Zealand.