chance at the title. The squad trained together throughout the entire year with skills coach Matt Meredith. They also worked with Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Kris Miller at College. The South Island competition in Timaru proved to be the big one of the year. It was the first year we had gained permission to take two teams to the tournament. As previous winners, we knew we would do well. What we did not envisage, however, was that both teams would be playing each other in the final. The College A and B sides were mixed up a little so that both sides were competitive. The A side was made up of Liam Adams, Jenner Johnson, Nick Schneideman, Nant Prachuabmoh and Lucca Wiseman. Whereas the B side was made up of Nont Prachuabmoh, Nathan McKenzie, Liam Barrett, Tom Downs and Edwin Dargue. The teams were split into two different pools, with the A side facing Christchurch Boys’ High School and John McGlashan College, and the B side up against St Bede’s College, Ashburton College and Timaru Boys’ High School. The A side met John McGlashan in the opening round. John McGlashan was not as strong as they had been in previous years and College took the win without dropping a set. In fact, the A side only dropped seven games throughout the tie. In their second round, they met CBHS, who proved to be a far more competitive opponent. Nevertheless, the A side defeated them five matches to one, to qualify for the final. In the second pool, the B side met Ashburton College, who proved to be a nuggety opponent. That did not stop College winning all of the matches, however. In their second round, they made short work of a weakened TBHS, who were rebuilding after losing a number of Year 13 students from their 2019 team. The last game in the pool was effectively the semi- final against St Bede’s. Both teams entered the match undefeated, and the winner would meet the College
A side in the final. Our boys were up for the fight. The highlight of the pool play was the match between Nont Prachuabmoh, our number one, and Charlie Morrison of St Bede’s. Nont played incredibly well to defeat Charlie, a higher seeded player, in three sets. The rest of the side lifted their performances and ended up defeating St Bede’s in all six matches. The final between the two College sides was looking as though it would be interesting. As Executive Principal Garth Wynne made the trip to join the boys and watch the final, it was becoming clear that the two sides were very keen to take each other on. The opening matches between numbers three and four in the singles immediately set the tone. In two hard fought matches, B side number three Tom Downs defeated Nick Schneideman in three sets. At number four, the B side’s Liam Barrett defeated Nant Prachuabmoh, also in three sets. If the A side were going to win this tournament they were going
to have to win the singles at numbers one and two – and that is exactly what Liam Adams and Jenner Johnson did. They defeated Nont Prachuabmoh and Nathan McKenzie respectively, and at the end of the singles matches the score was 2–2. The doubles saw the A side pairing of Lucca Wiseman and Jenner Johnson against Edwin Dargue and Nont Prachuabmoh. This was an even match, but the B side took the win in straight sets. This meant all of the attention was going to be on the top doubles. In this match the A side’s Liam Adams and Nant Prachuabmoh defeated a competitive Nathan McKenzie and Liam Barrett. It was an amazing tie that was split three matches each. In the end the A side took the title on a countback as they had dropped less sets. The boys were now warmed up for the nationals. In the Term 1 interschool competition, the results of our age grade teams demonstrated how dominant College
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