Tennis: Big guns to be rolled out for semis

HOME SEMIFINAL: James Wilce (right) and the rest of the Rotorua men's team will go in search of a home final this weekend.

The Rotorua men's tennis team will roll out their big guns for a home semifinal match against Hamilton.

After finishing the regular season atop the ladder in the Waikato Bays interclub tennis competition, Rotorua have earned a home semifinal at Manuka Cres tomorrow.

Rotorua No1 Shaun Tamai said they had their top five players available, who would all feature this weekend, in the doubles and singles matches.

"We are really looking forward to the challenge, especially on our home turf," Tamai said.

"We have been taking every game like it is our last so this is no exception, we are just going to play like it is our first game again."

Taking the court for Rotorua this weekend are Tamai, Sean Martin, Jesse Galvin-Dawson, James Wilce and doubles specialist Lionel Rogers.

Rotorua were originally set to play Hastings in the semifinal but the Hawke's Bay club pulled out. That gifted Hamilton a spot in the semi.

Rotorua and Hamilton did battle last month during their final round-robin match of the season with Rotorua winning 4-2 (taking three singles matches and one doubles match).

"We are going to try and go one better and get all wins this weekend," Tamai said.

The local team have been in fantastic form this season with all their players consistently picking up wins.

While Tamai has led the way playing at No1, the likes of Wilce and Galvin-Dawson have dominated playing at No3 and No4 for Rotorua.

Between them, Wilce and Galvin-Dawson have won 12 singles matches this season dropping only two matches.

"Realistically any of us could play at one ..." Tamai said.

If Rotorua win their semifinal, they will get a home final against Whakatane or Otumoetai on March 7. Otumoetai and Whakatane are scheduled to contest the other semifinal tomorrow in Tauranga.

Meanwhile, in the women's competition, the Rotorua women's team are still chasing a spot in the grand final but had to postpone their important match-up against Mount Maunganui until next weekend.