Nelson Bays Tennis

The combined Nelson and West Coast team got off to a slow and disappointing start at the Seniors National Teams event in Tauranga over Easter however produced some great results and redeemed themselves coming runner-up in their division.

The team consisting of Steve Molnar,  John Dunlop, Nori Koboyashi all from Nelson were joined by Richard Wilding and Paul Davidson from Hokitika.  This combined team have been playing together for a number of years now and this year were competing in the 55plus category.

 

Seven teams from around NZ were competing in this division with the Nelson/West Coast team the only team flying the South Island flag.  The first match was against one of the two Bay of Plenty teams, where the Nelson team got off to a disappointing start gaining only two of the possible 12 points.  The second match was a draw against Waikato.  On day two the Nelson team dominated gaining maximum points against the two Gisborne teams.  The winning run and dominating form continued on day 3 beating Thames Valley and only dropping one set.  The final tie was against the top seeds from Bay of Plenty, with an experienced side of David Hawkes, Quentin Maisey , Larry Searle Gorden Tietjens and Kevin Reiher.  The Nelson team came close to causing the upset of the tournament, losing narrowly to this Bay of Blenty side and the eventual winners by one game on a count back.   The Nelson/ West Coast team said "they punched well above their weight" and gained a very good second place result at the 2010 national teams event.