Both the Auckland Men's and Women's teams have finished third in their respective divisions at the Senior National Inter-District Teams Championships held at the Panmure Squash Club and Remuera Rackets Club over the weekend.  

The Women faced a disrupted build-up with a number of player changes leading into the tournament and despite going into the event with only one player returning from last year's squad they were looking to put in a big effort playing in their home district.  With nine teams in the Women's competition they faced a tough schedule with two pool matches on Friday, made even more difficult by the fact they only had four players available for the entire tournament.  There were plenty of nerves going into the first match against Midlands, but despite some strong play from their South Island opposition playing in their first Senior inter-district champs in a long while the experience of the Auckland team came through earning them a 4-0 victory.  A win against Wellington Friday evening would see them through as the top qualifier from Pool C, and they duly obliged with an impressive 4-0 win.  First up on Saturday morning was the top seeds and defending champions BOP, boasting an impressive lineup that included Commonwealth Games gold medallist Amanda Landers-Murphy.  In the end it was BOP that were too strong coming away with a 4-0 victory, leaving Auckland with one final match against Northland in an effort to beat their third seeding.  Unfortunately playing their fourth matches in around 24 hours proved a bit too much as two tight five-set matches didn't go their way and they ended up going down 3-1, handing them third place.  BOP easily took care of Northland in the effective final to secure their second consecutive Women's title.
Auckland Women - Abbie Palmer, Natalie Sayes, Juli Voykovic, Chelsea Johnson
Manager - Craig Stratford

The Auckland Men were seeded second in their draw, despite having an average age of less than 20.  They faced Eastern first up in the knockout and were clinical in collecting a 4-0 win without dropping a game.  That meant a tricky semifinal against third seeds BOP at midday on the Saturday.  With only four players playing in each fixture, every point counts with the strong possibility of a countback being required to separate teams.  The teams went match for match but in the end it was BOP who claimed the spot in the final with a 8-7 win on games after the fixture finished tied on two matches apiece.  That left them to battle Wellington in the third/fourth place playoff and once again the teams couldn't be split by matches winning two each, however this time Auckland were able to sneak through on games 8 to 6 and claim third.  Waikato defeated BOP two matches to one in the final to claim their first Men's Inter-District title for the region.
Auckland Men - Brad Robinson, Sion Wiggin, Anthony Lepper, Elijah Thomas, Leo Fatialofa
Manager - Richard Thompson  

AUCKLAND TEAM RESULTS

Auckland Women 4 vs Midlands 0
Abbie Palmer beat Luka Unger - 11/4 11/2 11/4
Natalie Sayes beat Anna O'Connor - 11/6 11/8 13/11
Juli Voykovic beat Leanne Spite - 11/7 11/8 11/8
Chelsea Johnson beat Lily Rae - 11/4 11/8 14/12

Auckland Women 4 vs Wellington 0
Abbie Palmer beat Rebecca Barnett - 11/6 11/8 11/7
Natalie Sayes beat Gemma Gee - 11/6 11/8 6/11 11/2
Juli Voykovic beat Charlotte Galloway - 11/6 10/12 11/7 11/4
Chelsea Johnson beat Dora Galloway - 11/6 7/11 11/5 11/3

Auckland Women 0 vs Bay of Plenty 4
Abbie Palmer lost to Amanda Landers-Murphy - 11/7 11/5 11/7
Natalie Sayes lost to Jo Shanks - 9/11 11/7 11/2 11/8
Juli Voykovic lost to Camden Te Kani-McQueen - 11/3 11/5 9/11 11/2
Chelsea Johnson lost to Lauren Clarke - 11/4 11/7 11/8

Auckland Women 1 vs Northland 3
Abbie Palmer beat Shelley Kitchen - 11/7 11/8 9/11 8/11 11/5
Natalie Sayes lost to Sacha Pou-Tito - 11/4 11/8 9/11 10/12 12/10
Juli Voykovic lost to Jacinta Matson - 11/5 11/7 11/8
Chelsea Johnson lost to Trina Moore - 11/6 12/14 11/9 5/11 11/6

Auckland Men 4 vs Eastern 0
Sion Wiggin beat Todd Redman - 11/9 11/9 11/4
Anthony Lepper beat Willz Donnelly - 11/5 15/13 11/5
Elijah Thomas beat Ryan Cross - 11/8 11/9 11/4
Leo Fatialofa beat Mike Gregory - 11/4 11/6 11/4

Auckland Men 2 vs Bay of Plenty 2
Brad Robinson lost to Ben Grindrod - 12/10 11/3 11/3
Sion Wiggin beat Alex Oakley - 11/7 11/6 11/3
Anthony Lepper beat Aaron Kopittke - 11/9 10/12 6/11 11/5 11/6
Elijah Thomas lost to Glenn Templeton - 11/4 9/11 11/8 11/3

Auckland Men 2 vs Wellington 2
Brad Robinson lost to Jonathan Barnett - 8/11 11/7 11/8 11/4
Sion Wiggin beat Sam Atkins - 11/9 12/10 11/6
Elijah Thomas beat Henry Tallot - 11/4 12/10 11/8
Leo Fatialofa lost to Kobe Fleming - 11/5 7/11 11/9 11/9 

Article added: Monday 03 September 2018