The Nelson Bays Interclub finals were played at Waimea Squash Club last week. Spectators were treated to a thrilling night of squash, in what was arguably the closest results seen in the competition’s history.
The mens final was contested between Waimea 2 and Motueka 1. First up were the No. 4’s, Logan McCrae of Waimea played Matt Watene. Matt was the favourite, however Logan arguably played his best squash of the season. Logan lost 3-1, though the match was far closer than the scoreline suggested. Next the No. 3’s and Waimea’s NZ junior rep Liam Gale beat Motueka’s Kyle Harrison 3-0 in a solid display of great squash. Then Waimea’s Martin Ferguson put on massive effort against up and coming Motueka player Luke Creighton. Martin gave him a scare taking one game and almost a second, but in the end was out gunned by the younger player, losing 3-1. It all came down to the final match, Waimea’s No 1 Brendon Whitley had to beat Motueka’s Wayne Barcus. Brendon won the first game comfortably, however Wayne changed his game plan to win the next two games. Brendon dug deep to win the fourth and even the match 2-2. In the final game both players gave everything, with Brendon inching home to win 3-2. Waimea Men’s 2 beat Motueka in countback by just 3 points (8 games all, 205-202 in points).
The Ladies final was also a thriller, Waimea Ladies 2 played Motueka Ladies. Debbie McCrae and Nicola Pilkington both lost in 3. Rebecca Gibb then won in 3 and in the final match no.1 Susan O’Connell had to beat Motueka’s Keren Barcus in 3 to win the title. Unfortunately Susan couldn’t do it, Keren winning 3-1, and the Waimea Ladies team had to settle for runners-up, losing 7-6 in games. Playing off for 3rd and 4th in the Men’s were Waimea 3 and Nelson 1.
Waimea’s Laurence Buschl and George Henderson recorded loses, while Angus Morris-Denby and Henry Aitken had wins.
At eight games all it went to countback, incredibly Waimea 3 won by just one point, 188-187. It never gets closer than this.