BOP Junior Teams perform well at Nationals

The NZ Inter-District Junior Teams Champs were held at Christchurch Squash club over the past 3 days.  Bay of Plenty had contrasting teams in the Boys & Girls competition.

The Boys team featured experience and quality, lead by Glenn Templeton & Joe Smythe, two players who were selected to represent NZ at the World Juniors this year, the team was seeded 2nd behind a powerhouse Auckland team boasting 5 A graders.  After seeing off Northland, Waikato & Canterbury 3-1, the inevitable clash with Auckland was the last hurdle.  An injury to no 3 Luke Steyn saw Matt Ward step into the team for the big dance.  Matt wasn't even in the team until the day before the event, when his older brother Robert succumbed to an injury sustained in the individual event.  Despite some courageous performances, the boys were outmatched in the final, finishing 2nd.

In contrast, the girls team was seeded 8th out of 9 teams, but it featured some very exciting young players who will be eligible to represent the Bay for many years to come.  In their opening tie, the girls were extremely close to a big upset, but they lost on a close countback to 5th seeds Midlands.  They then found themselves in the playoff for 7th-9th against Northland & Southland.  The girls stepped up, and in some cases took wins off higher graded opponents to secure an improvement on their seeding.  

Girls Results:
Round 1 vs Midlands Loss 2-2 (6-8 games countback)
Round 2 vs Auckland Loss 0-4
Round 3 vs Southland Win 2-2 (points countback)
Round 4 vs Northland Win 3-1

Boys Results:
Round 1 vs Northland Win 3-1
Round 2 vs Canterbury Win 3-1
Round 3 vs Waikato Win 3-1
Round 4 vs Auckland Loss 0-4