An unranked North East Valley team swept all before it to win the Bowls Dunedin open women’s fours title at the Green Island club on Sunday afternoon.
Its victory bookended a successful weekend for the club after its men’s section won the open pairs title on Friday night.
The team of Tala Kelly, Michelle Fallow, Vicki Robinson and Hilda Bennett claimed several prized scalps, including arguably the top three teams of the tournament.
At the quarterfinal stage, the team eliminated a fellow North East Valley four skipped by Bronwyn Stevens that finished runner-up to Taieri last year.
Kelly and company then accounted for the strong Green Island four skipped by Faye Cosgrove and including Lyn Rance — those two were finalists in last week’s open pairs final.
The challenges kept coming when the Kelly four played the Andersons Bay’s Tracey Penty, Shannon Eathorne, Nicky Fleury and Cathy King in the final.
Undaunted by the reputations of their opponents, the North East Valley quartet proved equal to the task, countering anything Andersons Bay put down the rink and keeping its scoring to a minimum.
Valley’s first big number came in just the third end, when it scored a four to take a 5-1 lead.
A three on the sixth end had it out to a 9-2 lead. And just as Andersons Bay seemed to be clawing its way back, Kelly’s quartet landed five shots on the 11th end to stretch its lead to 15-7 with five of the 16 mandatory ends to play.
The two combinations then went tit-for tat with low numbers, and when North East Valley scored two on the penultimate 15th end to lead 18-10, Andersons Bay conceded.
For Kelly and Fallow, it was their first centre title, and for Kelly her first success at centre level as a skip of a club team.
The title was Bennett’s second and Robinson’s third.
"I’m pretty proud of my team," Kelly said.
"It’s definitely been a team effort. There is no doubt.
"We went through two days undefeated and all pulled together. If one had a bad end, the rest of us pitched in. There was always one of us that stepped up."
Andersons Bay skip Penty was full of praise for the North East Valley combination.
"They were deserved winners. They out-bowled us and deserved to win."
— The final of the men’s open fours between defending champion Forbury Park, skipped by Oliver Mason, and Fairfield (Regan Larkin) is yet to be scheduled.
