Effort To Retain Tennis Trophy

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31987, 14 May 1969, Page 19

Effort To Retain Tennis Trophy

The Canterbury girls’ tennis team distinguished itself last season when it won the Howe Shield for the first time since the contest was instituted in 194849; it was also the first time the trophy had left the North Island.

At Auckland on Saturday and Sunday, although Canterbury will have the toughest of tasks to retain the trophy, it might still be won by a South Island team because Otago is now also strongly placed.

In the semi-finals on Saturday, Canterbury will play Hutt Valley and Otago will meet Auckland. All these teams except Hutt Valley, which had only a six-game margin over Wellington, won their zones comfortably last October.

Canterbury, for instance, did not lose a match to either Marlborough or Nelson. But a few important changes since then may affect this week-end’s matches. Canterbury has lost its top player, Miss R. Legge, through injury; Otago has lost its third player. Miss L. Robertson; Auckland has gained its top player, Miss S. Stevens, who did not play in the zone matches; and Otago has gained its second player, Miss S. Blakeley, who was injured in October. Close Struggle

Canterbury should be able to beat Hutt Valley easily (it won, 10-0, last season) but Auckland and Otago may have a close struggle in the other semi-final.

The top Otago girl, Miss S. Collins, is ranked second in New Zealand as national senior runner-up, and Miss Stevens is not yet ranked on the senior list. However, Miss Stevens won the national under 19 title when she beat Miss Legge in the final after Miss Legge had eliminated Miss Collins in a semi-final. Misses Stevens and Collins are both at present living in Dunedin, Miss Collins at

training college, Miss Stevens at university, but Miss Stevens is still required to play for Auckland.

From the earlier rounds, the other Auckland players will probably be Misses R. Glenie, J. Chatfield, P. Hern or C. Edwards and all had under 19 or under 17 rankings last season. The other Otago players may be Misses Blakeley, S. Stirling, formerly of Southland, and S. Armstrong, who played in place of Miss Blakeley earlier. Earlier Losses

Either will be a formidable opponent for Canterbury which had an indication of this in a Nunneley Casket match when its top players. Misses R. Dillon and G. Hampton lost singles to Misses Collins and Blakeley respectively. Canterbury’s other two players will be Misses S. Moore and C. Ralfe and the doubles pairs will also be in that order.

At the same time, the Canterbury boys' team will play Wellington in a semi-final while the holder, Auckland, plays Southland. The Canterbury team, in playing order, is R. Webster, N. Dillon, B. Smyth and R. Tuck; Wellington, on the zone matches earlier, is likely to be S. Menzies, A. Mazey, N. Carr and G. Herman.

The first three players in each team also played when they met in the semi-finals last season, Wellington winning by 8 matches to 2 when

Canterbury’s only matches were won when Webster beat Mazey and Dillon beat Carr. Two Out

Auckland has lost two of its players, G. Snook and C. Greendale, who have gone to America, but still has boys of the quality of P. Gunning, A. Guise and D. Walker, all nationally ranked last year. They should beat Southland (M. Corkery, K. Muir, R. Stewart, B. McDowell) comfortably enough and probably also the winner of the other semi-final.

The Canterbury boys’ doubles pairs will be Webster and Smyth, Dillon and Tuck, and the manager of both boys’ and girls’ teams will be Mr A. Shaw. If the Canterbury teams are not successful it will not be, for want of preparation. They have been training on two days every week-end since Easter with physical training under a programme planned by Mrs H. B. Mitchell, a physical training expert, and playing with a large number of experienced players who. have given their time. These players, including some notable names, have been J. Mitchell, A. Brooks, J. Martin, R. G. Pattinson, A. L. Blackwell, P. Alexander, W. J. Smith, D. Haworth, M. Morrison, the men; and Mesdames J. Bunt (formerly Miss J. Mac Gibbon), M. Lawrence (formerly Miss M. Burrell), P. Sanders, B. McNicol, P. Leopold and E. Cooper, the women.