Northlanders push hard at National Tennis Seniors Teams Event

Merv Tane and his Northland men's 40+ team finished third in their division at the National Tennis Senior Teams Event. Photo/John Stone

Local sides produced strong results at the National Tennis Seniors Teams Event held in Northland over Easter Weekend.

The fourteen home teams showed they were more than able to compete at national level, producing six top-three finishes as well as three fourths.

The 40+ men's team competed well in their division to finish third overall.

The team, made up of Innes Anderson, Mike Clapshaw, Keith Cocking, Terry Mitchell and Merv Tane, lost just two matches in the competition.

The accounted for South Auckland, one of the Waikato units, North Harbour, Auckland and Kapi Mana.

Meanwhile, the Lower Northland 45+ women finished second in their competition, falling only to Kapi Mana in their six matches.

Kat Kaull, Margaret Kinder, Keiko Pogoni, Linda Seabourne, Penny Smith and Rumi Wilson all performed well for the team during the three-day tournament.

Other teams from up north to do well were the Northland W50+, Northland Blue W60+ and Lower Northland M65-70+.

The Northland 50+ women's team were runners-up in the highly competitive W50-55+ competition.

Northland went through the competition unbeaten with eight wins and a draw against Waikato 50+.

That draw proved to be the difference between first and second as Waikato won because of a slightly better sets and matches record.

Waikato had a 96-12 match and 31-5 set run, slightly outdoing Northland's 94-14 and 30-6.

The Northland unit was made up of Sheryl Duffy-York, Ursula Hinck, Francie James, Wendy Sykes and Margaret Waller.

Other Northland-based teams in the competition were Lower Northland (fourth) and Northland 55+ (eighth).

Other competitive draws were the W60-65+ and M65-70+, with Northland sides doing well in each.

Lower Northland 70+ battled hard in the men's division, finishing second after six wins.
Lower Northland went to a showdown with Canterbury to decide the winner in the penultimate match of the tournament after five straight victories.

Canterbury proved too good for the Northlanders which meant Lower Northland had to settle for second.

Lower Northland 65+ ended up fourth in the same division while Northland 70+ were sixth.

In the W60-65+ division, Northland Blue showed they were a force but were not quite able to take top spot either, ending second.

Northland beat everyone on their way to the final match, where they faced Rotorua/Taupo/Eastern Bay of Plenty.

The visitors proved too hot to handle for the Northland side as they cruised to the title.