PETER JONES
Last season Rapaura Just Move missed out on the Marlborough WK+ President’s Grade division one tennis title on countback.
This time around they also went to a countback of games won after the matches were shared 2-2, eventually beating last year’s winners, Rapaura Masters, 30-23 in a see-sawing final.
All four division finals were contested at the Forrest Wines Tennis Centre on Tuesday evening, two of the ties going to a countback. Rapaura Just Move made a strong start to the division one decider, two solid wins giving them a huge advantage which ultimately decided the tie.
Kyle Heagney and Darin Herd combined superbly to win the men’s double 9-2 against Stu Campbell and Jared Bell. Sisters Emily Stenhouse and Heidi Stenhouse-Allen also dominated, prevailing 9-3 against Donna Clark and Deb Schollum.
The mixed doubles were a different story, Rapaura Masters winning both. Bell and Schollum claimed a 9-7 win over Heagney and Stenhouse-Allen, before Campbell and Clark got up 9-5 against Herd and Stenhouse. However, despite the comeback, the writing was on the wall after the straight doubles, Just Move making up for missing out at the final hurdle last year.
In the division two final Marlborough Volleyeurs (Taylor Keen, Suzanne Sampson, Jim Forbes and Paddy Lankshear) scored a comfortable 4-0 win over club-mates Marlborough Swallows (Elaine McFarlane, Jillian Redwood, Dave Hayes and Brian Martin).
Division three was closer, Rapaura Floorpride Interiors (Joey Beckett, Lorraine Eade, Michael Kamson and Graham Moseley) winning promotion after beating Renwick Re-Strung (Lucy Trolove, Avril Heard, Nic Dillon and Luke Elworthy) 3-1.
The division four decider went down to the wire, Rapaura Mainfreight (Tanya Nieuwoudt, Rhonda George, Andrew Pillans and Cameron Harris) making it three from four titles for the country club with a 2-2 (30-26) countback win over Rapaura Shiraz (Elaine Taylor, Brigid Molyneux, Mike Insley and Nigel Fluit).