Mon, Mar 22, 2021 11:06 PM
Peter Jones
The Marlborough under-14 junior tennis team claimed the Malcolm Shield for the 10
th
consecutive season when they won a tense encounter against Nelson at the weekend.
The fixture, postponed from November 2020 due to rain, was taken out 9-7 by Marlborough at the Forrest Estate Winery Marlborough Tennis Centre.
Marlborough started strongly, winning all four matches in the opening girls’ and boys’ doubles - three of these in tight super tie third sets, to set the platform for victory.
Nelson dominated in singles, taking them out 5-3. Again three games went to a third set but this time Marlborough could not convert the close encounters into wins.
Marlborough led 7-5 heading into the mixed doubles and while the top seeds, Dan Clarke and Ella Sowman, picked up a solid win, making a clean sweep for the weekend, the other three matches were harder to pick.
First time Marlborough representatives Jimmy Rumble and Lauren Fisher combined to dominate their opponents 6-1, 6-1 to give Marlborough the vital point their team needed.
The Marlborough team: Dan Clarke, Theo Sanford-Jury, Ryo Kimura, Cooper Johnson, Jimmy Rumble, Ella Sowman, Elizabeth Bowron, Lauren Fisher, Poppy Parkinson.