Bay sisters set for revenge

Bowls

Hawke's Bay sisters Mandy and Angela Boyd are back in the pairs final at the national bowls championships in New Plymouth and the sisters are looking in fierce form to clinch the title.

Standings in their way this afternoon at the Paritutu Bowling Club will be the Dunsandel duo of multiple national title holder Sandra Keith and former New Zealand representative Serena Matthews.

Last year's tournament in Auckland saw the Boyd women lose the final to former Black Jacks Genevieve Baildon and Jan Shirley, but a year on the pair are hoping to go one better.

Mandy recently returned from a successful Black Jacks campaign at the world bowls championships in Adelaide where she won a silver medal in the triples, while elder sister Angela is also part of the New Zealand talent development squad.

Yesterday's post-section matches were fine examples of the composite team's skills as they defeated Gail Fache and Betty Eustace (Vogeltown) in the quarter-final, then threw off the challenge from mother-and-daughter duo Leigh and Kirsten Griffin (Victoria) in a tense semifinal.

On the other side of the draw, Sandra Keith, who earlier in the week lost the chance to defend her singles title, skipped her side past Mere Fryer's Northern team in the quarter-final, before being too good for Tauranga South's Mary Campbell and Robyn Davis in the semifinal.

It was a close call against the Tauranga pair, with the match secured only once the final bowl was rolled.

"I was disappointed to miss out on the singles, but it's great to make it through with Serena in the pairs," Keith said. "Me and Mandy have played together quite a lot and we're all just going to go out there [in the final] and give it our best."

The final of the men's singles will be played this morning, followed by the women's singles final. The men's and women's pairs finals will be played in the afternoon.