Cottrell (22) was beaten 25-21 by World Bowls player and former world champion of champions singles winner Ali Forsyth in the Speight's Invitation singles.
It was a gutsy effort by Cottrell against Forsyth who is close to peak form as he prepares for next month's World Bowls in Adelaide.
Cottrell, an Auckland glazier, has been playing bowls for 11 years. He won the New Zealand secondary schools pairs title in 2007 and has been in two New Zealand under-25 teams that won the transtasman tests against Australia.
It was the second time he has played against Forsyth. He lost his first game on an extra end at the Burnside green in Christchurch two years ago.
Cottrell, who is skilled at playing weighted shots, lost the game because he played too many loose shots.
"It is not a matter of playing more good bowls but less bad ones," he said. "I played a few too many loose bowls today."
Cottrell started well and led 9-4 after nine ends, but the experienced Forsyth fought back and took the lead for the first time with a four on the 13th end to lead 12-10.
Forsyth used his experience to hold on to a narrow lead and he knew how to keep the pressure on Cottrell.
The game looked safe for him when he led 20-14 after 24 ends but Cottrell fought back with a three on the next end to reduce the gap to three points.
On the 28th end, Forsyth revealed his cool temperament by drawing the shot with his last bowl when he was two down on the head.
On the next end, Cottrell narrowly missed his attempt to turn his two bowls on the head into four shots and ended up with just one.
On the 32nd end, Cottrell attempted to trail the jack for four shots but he hit the edge of the jack and it rolled the wrong way and Forsyth collected three shots to win the game.
It is a world-class field in this morning's semifinals with three World Bowls players still in contention for the $5000 winner's purse.
The fourth semifinalist is Black Jack Shaun Scott (North East Valley) who was unlucky to miss selection for World Bowls.
Scott plays Shannon McIlroy (Nelson) who won the Speight's Invitation singles in 2006 and 2008 and is the favourite on the TAB.
The other semifinal is between defending champion Tony Grantham (Auckland) and Sydney-based Forsyth.
The other three quarterfinals were one-sided with McIlroy beating Bill Clements (Alexandra) 25-11, Grantham downing Mike Kernaghan (Dunedin) 25-11 and Shaun Scott defeating former international Andrew Curtain (Christchurch) 25-8.
McIlroy played precision bowls to dominate the middle stages and forced Clements into playing too many drives and upshots.
Clements led 6-4 after seven ends but was shut out of the game after this as McIlroy added 14 shots on the next five ends to lead 18-6.
Grantham was too accurate on the draw and never allowed Kernaghan to get into the game.
He led 11-3 after 11 ends and 19-6 after 19 ends.
Scott was equally dominant against Curtain and led 12-4 after 11 ends and 19-8 after 19 ends. He ended the game with threes on the 20th and 21st ends.
The semifinals start at the North East Valley green at 9.30 this morning. The plate final will start at 11.15am and the Speights Invitation final at 1pm.
