Rotorua start interclub title defence this weekend

FOREHAND: Shaun Tamai will captain the Rotorua's defending Waikato-Bays interclub champion tennis team when the competition gets under way for 2016-17 on Saturday. PHOTO/FILE

Rotorua will have three teams competing in the Waikato-Bays interclub tennis competition this summer.

Based out of the Lynmore club, Team 1, captained by Shaun Tamai, will be looking to make it three titles in a row. The club has also put together a second men's team, headed by new club coach Marvin Barker and featuring several juniors.

The city will also be represented in the women's team competition after not fielding a team last summer.

The premier men and premier women's competition start on Saturday.

In the grand final in March, Rotorua scored a clean sweep, 6-0, victory over Whakatane.

"We've got pretty much the same starting four from last year, with a new guy who was quite highly ranked back in the day," said Tamai. "Campbell Brake is 21 now and has just come back on to the scene. It's great for us to get him back."

Tamai said the team was well prepared for the start of the interclub competition.

"We have been hitting for the past month and a half, two months, and slowly working our game back in together. We've been playing a bit of club tennis around Taupo and Hawke's Bay to get ourselves prepared for the up coming season.

''It's early days at the moment as to where we are going to go, but we are fairly confident.''

With Team 2 also playing in the premier competition, the Waikato-Bays interclub will be a nine-team competition. There are two Cambridge teams, Lugton Park (Hamilton) and Hamilton, St Peters, Whakatane and Mount/Otumoetai.

"There are a few teams that will be pretty strong this year - but on the day, everyone is pretty strong," said Tamai.

Team 1's first game is against Hamilton while Team 2 take on Lugton Park. Both games are in Hamilton and start at 1pm.

The second round of games, on October 8, will see the two Rotorua teams clash. The competition finishes with playoffs in March.

"I'm looking forward to it - all the boys are keen as and ready to go," said Tamai.

The women's interclub competition will be a Bay of Plenty-only affair in 2016, with just four teams - Rotorua, Mount Maunganui, Tauranga and Gate Pa.

Women's team and club captain Leona Kaye-Ivitu said it was good to have a Rotorua team back in the women's competition.

The women's team has a first-up assignation against Gate Pa at home on Saturday, starting at 1pm. The women's competition will wrap up in December.

Kaye-Ivitu said having Barker on board enabled the club to have a second team in the premier competition.

"We are so fortunate. We've never had a coach like this before who has taken on board these junior players."

The club will hold an open day on October 12 with juniors playing in the late afternoon and seniors in the early evening.

Rotorua teams for the Waikato-Bays interclub tennis competition:
Team 1: Shaun Tamai (c), James Wilce, Jesse Dawson-Galvin, Sean Martin, Campbell Brake.
Team 2: Marvin Barker (c), Ryan Beamish, Nick Beamish, Logan Nathan.
Women's team: Leona Kaye-Ivitu (c), Mia Wardlaw, Aliya Edwards, Debra Dowland, Lara Wild, Maelene Brake.