SC Juniors Excel in Southern

17/11/2015: Media Release – SC Tennis Juniors shine in recent Southern Tournaments
South Canterbury tennis juniors have performed exceptionally well in the last week at the recent Southern Tennis tournaments held in Dunedin, the Southern Primary Schools Championships and the Southern Junior Teams Event.

Leading the momentum of success was Jock Rollinson from Waihi School winnning the Year 6 and under Boys title at the Southern Primary Schools, with Ryan Paul (Barton Rural) finishing a credible fourth. In the Girls Year 6 and under Lucy Crawford (Cannington) played strongly to take out third place with Brianna Howell (Geraldine Primary) finishing fourth.

The Year 7 and 8’s was a strongly contested competition with Josh Cameron (Timaru Christian) making his way to the final against Michael Gealogo (Wanaka) to finish runner -up in this age group.  Matt Ellis took out the consolation final to secure in place in the top 5. Matilda Hayman (Craighead) finished runner-up in the consolation final.

The South Island Primary Schools Finals are being held here in Timaru next week, starting Monday 23 November at the South Canterbury Tennis Centre.  South Canterbury players to make the cut to represent Southern were Josh Cameron, Matt Ellis and Matilda Hayman in the Year 7 and 8’s and Jock Rollinson and Lucy Crawford in the Year 6 and under.

Following on from the Southern Primary Schools in Dunedin was the Southern Junior Teams Event which included teams from Southland, Southern Lakes, Otago and North Otago.  South Canterbury continued to shine and were in a class of their own in the 10’s age group. Across the four ties, the SC 10’s only dropped 3 of the 48 matches played and they were in the doubles.  This is an outstanding result and lays a solid foundation for future success in South Canterbury Junior tennis.

The South Canterbury 14’s team managed to narrowly nudge out Southern Lakes by one point to win this age group with the stand out matchs on the first day being in the Mixed doubles with Caroline Murdoch and George McAleer (SC) taking it to the wire with nail biting 6-7, 7-6, 10-7 win over Southern Lakes and an upset win in the Girls Doubles by Sophie Wilson and Faith McKay (SC) over Ines Stephani and Jessica Eckroyd (SL).

The 12’s age group was a close contest with Southland taking out this age-group with 37 points.  The South Canterbury team finished fourth with 27 points only 2 points behind Otago in third and a further 2 points behind Otago the second place-getters.

South Canterbury won the Southern Junior Teams Event óverall’ with the following players:
10s Girls : Lucy Crawford, Brianna Howell, Arabella Acland, Jessica Aldridge, Ella Crotty
10s Boys: Jock Rollinson, Ryan Paul, Max Wilson, Luke Melville, Will Heap

12s Girls: Kate Crawford, Matilda Hayman, Isabel Thomson, Molly-Kate Morrison
12s Boys: Ryan McNulty, Connor Crotty, Shay Young, Max Taylor

14s Girls: Caroline Murdoch, Sophie Wilson, Faith McKay, Kate Harvey
14s Boys: Josh Cameron, George McAleer, Matt Ellis, Tim Sheed, Mathew Paterson

Coaches: Kane Newland, Henry Craib, Murray Bradshaw