FOCUSED: Rotorua women's Mia Wardlaw impressed for her side on the weekend. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER.
FOCUSED: Rotorua women's Mia Wardlaw impressed for her side on the weekend. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER.
Rotorua has smashed an impressive triple win in the Waikato Bay regional premier senior interclub tennis competitions.
The Rotorua women pushed passed Mount Maunganui to the top of the table, after round one of the competition, thanks to an emphatic 5-1 victory over Tauranga Lawn at home on Saturday.
One of the standout games was the 6/2 6/3 victory by Rotorua pair Mia Wardlaw, the No 1 Bay of Plenty under-17 seed, and her doubles partner - the experienced Debbie Dowland, against Tauranga's Sussa Bailey and Carys Robson.
Rotorua women's captain Leona Kaye-Ivitu said her squad performed exceptionally well in "difficult elements" and highlighted the quality of Wardlaw's serve and backhand which also helped her to a 6/1 6/4 singles win over Bailey.
"There were lots of difficult elements to deal with because of the bad weather but all the players controlled their play and were very patient," she said.
"Everybody played well but Mia really had an excellent service game and her backhand was on point. Debbie really dug deep and was very athletic around the court making excellent volleys."
After three games, Rotorua lead the table on 18 points - five points ahead of second placed Mount Maunganui - last year's winners.
Kaye-Ivitu said the team now aimed to take the title, with her side being no strangers to success after winning three years in a row before not fielding a side in last year's competition.
"We've laid the foundations in round one and now want to push on," she said.
"The team want it more than ever now, especially as we weren't involved last season. The Mount are certainly our biggest challenge but we have the right mix of experience and youth to win."
The Rotorua-Lynmore men's first team also enjoyed an impressive win - demolishing Whakatane 6-0 away on Saturday with two of the standout games both involving Rotorua-Lynmore captain Shaun Tamai.
CONTROLLED: Rotorua-Lynmore men's first team captain Shaun Tamai in action. PHOTO/FILE.
After a slow start the club's No.1 seed battled to a 7-5 7-6 win over Joel Barr in the singles.
And in the doubles it was all square for Tamai with partner Sean Martin against Barr and Philip Meyer after two sets - 4-6 6-0 but the away side powered to a 10-4 victory in the super tie-breaker.
"In the singles I found myself in a very close match up and I had to completely change my game plan because we were playing on astro turf," said Tamai.
"And the doubles was a real thriller. I think we were far too relaxed and we were going for shots we didn't need to. But we eventually woke up and our serve and volley game won us the tie-break."
The result leaves Rotorua-Lynmore top in the men's standings, with two more games to go in round one of the competition, and the side are aiming for their third consecutive season title.
Meanwhile, the Rotorua Lynmore men's second team beat Cambridge Blue 4-2 at home on the weekend.
