Becky Butters fell in three sets (her first singles loss) and Anna McIlraith put up a fight against Samantha Rowe, but eventually went down. Leela Beattie, Karen Cranston and Dana Hiri had great wins.
Up stepped the men.
"The lesson from Taranaki was learned and three of our men pulled out three-set upset victories," Butters said.
"Simon O'Leary and Nick Caton dispatched Keiren Rooney and Jono Spring, but the match that turned the tide was Michael 'Man of Steel' O'Callaghan. He was 6-5 in third set 40-15 up and played a 30-shot rally. He was dictating and then his opponent's ball hits the net and bounces over. Mike falls to the ground screaming, clutching his right leg [with cramp]. His opponent wins the next three points and the match goes to a third set tie-breaker, but the physical distress on Mike's face was heart-wrenching, he can barely walk let alone run," Butters said.
"First to win seven points wins the match and somehow Mike wins the next five points in a row. His sheer will and determination is emotional to watch and he falls two more times. Everything we say about putting your body on the line for your team and never give up is happening in front of our eyes. Michael wins the tie-break 7-5 and falls to the ground again. We are now tied 6-all.
"Michael is physically and mentally done and is helped to the sidelines for ice and baking soda, we still have doubles to play. It was 9-all after the doubles, our women win two matches and our men win one.
"Dana and Karen have their first loss and we throw Kevin Neil, a very good player from Wanganui/Waverly, into the top men's doubles with Patrice and put Michael on ice. Kevin came across as a spectator and we made him play against former Mexican Davis cup player Victor Romero. They lose 6-2, 6-0, but we had great wins by Simon O'Leary with Nick Caton, Anna McIlraith with Paris Butters, and lastly Leela Beattie with Tara Butters.
"We needed three wins from the remaining six matches [in mixed doubles] and Manawatu had the luxury of playing two fresh doubles specialists. Sean Edmonds and Dana Hiri get the first win at number 4.
"Dana is one of bright new stars going super nova for Whanganui.
"Leela Beattie and Steve Brown won their match and the score was 11-all.
"We sent Michael back out, hobbling with Tara, but we knew by sending him out it would lift our players. Patrice played top mixed doubles with Becky, but both these teams fell. Simon O'Leary finished a winner with Paris and the Christie Cup was won.
"The last match left was Nicky Caton and Karen Cranston. They eventually fell 6-4 in the third set. That was Karen Cranston's and Nicky Caton's second third set match of the day. They had been on the court for over six hours.
"I could not pick one MVP player for Whanganui, the whole team came together as a unit. Leela and Simon finished the day with three wins, Dana, Karen, Paris, Nicky with two wins and Michael, Sean, Steve, Tara and Anna with one," Butters said.
Whanganui defended the trophy for a third year, taking out the more fancied opposition, while Cranston created history by becoming the first woman in the trophy's 90-year history to not only captain the side, but successfully defend it.
