Favourites Seal Titles at SquashGym

Top seeds Wellington and Auckland have secured the boys and girls Inter District Teams Event titles in Palmerston North.

Both started heavy favourites with quality line ups from number one right through to number four.  Wellington met Bay of Plenty in the Boys final with two New Zealand reps Zac Millar and Jonny Barnett at numbers one and
two. Millar had a comfortable win over New Zealand team mate Ben Grindrod and Wellington number three Scott Galloway comfortably beat Alex Oakley 3/0, meaning Wellington only needed to claim one set in one of the two remaining matches to clinch the title. Kayne Espinosa was able to do this, although he went down to Luke Cooper in five sets. The remaining match was a dead rubber and both teams opted not to play.

In the Girls final, Auckland entered the tie having not dropped a single match in getting there. The key matchup was the battle of the number ones; Auckland’s Ellie Epke against Wellington’s Rebecca Barnett in a rematch of the New Zealand under 19 final from Sunday, when Epke created history when beating Barnett becoming the youngest New Zealand under 19 Girls Champion. She got off to a great start taking the first set 11/9. The second set was a tight affair with Barnett taking it 12/10. Epke regrouped to take the next two sets comfortably to take the match in four to repeat Sunday’s effort. This victory now takes her grading to A1, an impressive achievement for a 14 year old. Auckland number two and New Zealand rep Abbie Palmer comfortably beat Paris Dalrymple-Mortleman 3/0 and New Zealand under 17 Champion Hayley Hughes
beat Ellen Verry in straight sets. Wellington's only win was at number four with Sophie O’Connell beating Juee Bhide in a close five setter.

The Central Boys team had a good win over Waikato 3/1 in the fifth and sixth playoff to improve their seeding by one. Winswent to Luke Jones, Sam Nash and Jake Tasker. The Central Girls team finished in sixth position.

Wellington easily claimed the Gifford Cup awarded to the District with the most games won in both the Boys and Girls combined.

Boys Final

Wellington beat Bay of Plenty 2 – 1 (fourth match not played)
Zac Millar beat Ben Grinrod 11 – 8, 11 – 6, 11 – 5.
Scott Galloway beat Alex Oakley 11 – 8, 11 – 5, 11 – 8
Kayne Espinosa lost to Luke Cooper 11 – 6, 11 – 8, 10 -12, 6 – 11, 11 – 2

Girls Final

Auckland beat Wellington 3 – 1
Ellie Epke beat Rebecca Barnett 11 – 9, 10 – 12, 11 – 6, 11 – 5
Abbie Palmer beat Paris Dalrymple-Mortleman 11 – 2, 11 – 3, 11 – 4
Hayley Hughes beat Ellen Verry 11 – 2, 11 – 0, 11 – 9
Juee Bhide lost to Sophie O’Connell 9 – 11, 11 – 8, 8 – 11, 11 – 8, 11

Final Placings:

Boys
1st – Wellington
2nd – Bay of Plenty
3rd – Midlands
4th – Auckland
5th – Central
6th – Waikato
7th – Eastern
8th – Northland
9th – Canterbury
10th – Team Southern

Girls
1st – Auckland
2nd – Wellington
3rd – Bay of Plenty
4th – Team Southern
5th – Waikato
6th – Central
7th – Eastern
8th - Canterbury