- Western Province inflicts second defeat on Kaplan Cup women’s champs
Cape Town, South Africa: Defending champions Serr Synergy SA Country Districts A (SACD) led the charge of the leading men’s contenders on the second day of the Growthpoint Interprovincial squash tournament in Cape Town on Tuesday.
The potent SACD side comfortably had the measure of a game KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) side in their Jarvis Cup clash to set up a showdown with Northerns A on Wednesday for the top spot in pool one.
In pool two, host team Western Province A (WP) and Joburg Squash A continued to dominate, and they will also decide positions one and two in their section on Wednesday.
KZN’s Justin de Neef produced his side’s best performance in his clash with SACD A No 3 Jonty Matthys, pushing his opponent to the full five games.
Matthys led 2-1 before a titanic fourth game saw De Neef level matters, taking it 12-10, but the SACD man got back on top in the decider, eventually running away with it 11-3.
Northerns A had some close contests against Joburg Squash B, who were able to pick up four points in the tie.
However, the Pretoria team always enjoyed the advantage, and they collected another maximum haul to stand level with SACD A on 40 points after two rounds.
In the WP A-Zambia A men’s match, the opening encounter was also a battle between Ian Oosthuizen (WP) and Elvis Ngosa.
The WP player looked in charge at 2-1 up, but Ngosa was not done, and he forced a fifth game before finally running out of steam as Oosthuizen took control to take it 11-3.
In the women’s Kaplan Cup, SA Country Districts A virtually surrendered their title as they suffered their second consecutive loss, going down to the Alex Fuller-led WP A team 20-2.
The result placed the Cape Town outfit in pole position to make a charge for the title, but they will not take anything for granted in their remaining two matches.
In an intriguing match-up between two of SA squash’s trailblazers, former professional Siyoli Waters had enough in her tank to overcome the 2021 Growthpoint national champion Lizelle Muller 3-1.
Although neither player is competing at the highest level any longer, they remain formidable opponents and a challenge for anyone.
Eastern Province, with the impressive Hayley Ward at the helm, opened their campaign with a solid 17-3 win over Joburg Squash A and will be looking to build on that in the rest of the week.
Only Gill van Vlaanderen had any joy for the Joburg team, defeating Anlen Jarman in straight games.
The results were:
Women’s Kaplan Cup
Western Province A bt SA Country Districts A 20-2 (WP A first): Alex Fuller bt Alexa Pienaar 3-0 (12-10 11-0 11-3), Siyoli Waters bt Lizelle Muller 3-1 (11-7 11-7 7-11 11-4), Karen Schultz bt Alouise Campher 3-0 (11-6 11-9 11-3), Juanette le Roux bt Lisa Venter 3-1 (11-5 5-11 11-4 11-6), Miranda Lang bt Kyla Hartzenberg 3-0 (11-3 11-3 11-6)
Eastern Province A bt Joburg Squash A 17-3 (EP A first): Hayley Ward bt Teagan Russell 3-0 (11-3 11-4 11-3), Kacey-Leigh Dodd bt Shannon Harvey 3-0 (11-7 11-5 11-9), Jacqui Ryder bt Tayla Dunn 3-1 (11-6 11-6 11-13 11-9), Anlen Jarman lost to Gill van Vlaanderen 3-0 (11-9 11-8 11-3), Bianca Keeley bt Amber Jacoby 3-0 (11-2 11-3 11-5)
Latest log: WP A 40 (2), EP A 17 (1), Northerns A 15 (1), SACD A 8 (2), Joburg Squash A 7 (2)
Men’s Jarvis Cup
Pool 1:
Northerns bt Joburg Squash B 20-4 (Northerns first): Damian Groenewald bt Diodivine Mkhize 3-0 (11-5 16-14 11-8), Jarrod Cousins bt Brian Mncube 3-1 (11-7 2-11 11-6 12-10), Mark Schickerling bt Jordan Wilkinson 3-1 (11-9 11-9 5-11 11-9), Reece McLachlan bt Amukelani Zitha 3-2 (11-8 6-11 7-11 11-8 13-11), Brett McLachlan bt Joshua Deutschmann 3-0 (11-9 11-3 11-2)
SA Country Districts A bt KZN A 20-2 (SACD A first): Dewald van Niekerk bt Luke Bakke 3-0 (11-5 11-6 11-4), JP Brits bt Daniel Smith 3-0 (11-6 11-5 11-2), Jonty Matthys bt Justin de Neef 3-2 (11-4 8-11 11-9 10-12 11-3), Reuel Videler bt Adrian Hansen 3-0 (11-5 11-2 11-3), Gareth Craigen bt Robert Moody 3-0 (11-7 11-9 11-9)
Latest log: SACD A and Northerns 40 (2), KZN A 6 (2), Joburg Squash B 5 (2)
Pool 2:
Joburg Squash A bt SA Country Districts B 17-4 (Joburg first): Christo Potgieter bt Warren Bower 3-1 (14-16, 11-7 11-4 11-8), Luke Jacoby lost to Luke van Vuuren 3-0 (11-5 11-9 12-10), Sipho Ncube bt Johan Venter 3-0 (12-10 11-4 14-12), Ethan Robinson bt Hayden Worth 3-0 (11-3 11-3 11-1), Mark Dunn bt Etienne Schutte 3-0 (12-10 11-5 11-2)
Western Province A bt Zambia A 20-2 (WP A first): Mighael Lombard bt Sam Siame 3-0 (11-8 11-4 11-5), Clinton Leeuw bt Manda Chilambwe 3-0 (11-6 11-3 11-2), Ian Oosthuizen bt Elvis Ngosa 3-2 (10-12 12-10 11-5 7-11 11-3), Rodney Durbach bt Samuel Kabwe 3-0 (11-5 11-8 11-7), Justin van der Poel bt Nana Owusu-Sekyere 3-0 (11-6 11-3 11-5)
Latest log: WP A 40 (2), Joburg Squash A 37 (2), SACD B 4 (2), Zambia A 3 (2)
