Dominance of women the key to success
Scoreboard
Nelson Bays have beaten traditional rivals Marlborough and West Coast to reclaim the Heaphy Shield at the 42nd annual triangular squash tournament, the overall victory sparked by the dominance of their women’s team.
As expected West Coast and Marlborough were ahead in the the men’s competition.
With the last minute unavailability of Nelson No 1 seed Tristan Palmer due to injury, it was always going to be a tough competition for the remaining members Nick Burns, Callum Seymour and Michael Hughes and reserve Mark Kerr.
However, Kerr quickly stepped into Palmer’s shoes and they aimed to pick up as many games and matches as they could to capitalise on the strength of the women’s team, who had more depth this year due to the availability of Sophie O’Connell, who returned home from Dunedin to fill the No 1 spot and combine with Maree Smith at No 2.
This also allowed for a very strong bottom order of Christine Palmer and Jodie Backhouse at three and four.
Despite the Nelson men’s team collecting just four points, the Nelson women were in control at Club Waimea all weekend, winning 14 of their 16 matches, tipping the Heaphy Shield scales back into the home team’s favour.
In the end, Nelson managed 19 wins compared to West Coast’s 15 while Marlborough finished at the rear of the field with 14.