Wairarapa have literally drawn the short straw for the quinrangular tennis tournament being played at Paraparaumu this weekend.
In an event which requires teams to play four matches over just two days, Wairarapa have been allocated the bye in the final round, meaning they will have no break between their games
other than Saturday evening.
First up Wairarapa meets hot favourites Wellington and then will follow Hutt Valley, Kapi Mana and Manawatu
Selector Steve Hurley says the objective for his Wairarapa side is to enhance their third seeding, and to do that they will almost certainly have to register wins over all opposition excepting Wellington.
The fact national age group rep Marcus Daniell was not available for this tournament because of commitments in Australia does weaken Wairarapa.
He would almost certainly have been at No.1 in the men's section and without him other team members have had to move up one place.
Taking the No.1 spot now is Jono Hurley with Matt Spooner at two, followed by Baden Stevenson, Geoff McKay, Mike Jackson, Chris Schofield and Steve Hurley himself.
Hurley and Spooner both play their club tennis in Wellington as do two of the women in the Wairarapa side, Stevenson and Charlotte Gibson.
Stevenson will be at No.1 in the women's section with Katie Wyeth at two, Gibson at three and then Asheligh Gane, Natasha Robinson and Bridget Needham.
While agreeing that the strength of their men is probably Wairarapa's greatest attribute Steve Hurley has confidence in the women also doing well, labelling their line-up there as being stronger overall than any other Wairarapa team he had been associated with.
Hurley said the Hutt Valley match would be the defining point of the tourney for Wairarapa as to have any chance of finishing second they would have to beat them.
And with that in mind he is seriously considering giving some of the Wairarapa reserve players a run in the opening match against Wellington so as to keep those higher in the order fresh for the Hutt Valley game.
