Their match with Canterbury petered out into a draw.
Rain dominated proceedings for the last two days.
The Volts were able to take some positives from the match.
The top three all posted half-centuries in seam-friendly conditions. Rookie left-armer Thomas O’Connor and captain Luke Georgeson picked up three wickets apiece.
But it was to no avail as Northern Districts posted a six-wicket win against Auckland and have established a handy buffer at the top of the Plunket Shield standings.
They are on 65 points with three matches remaining.
Auckland (55 points) are in second place and host the Volts at Eden Park Outer Oval today.
Wellington (26 points) host Canterbury (53 points) at the Basin Reserve today, while Central Districts (45 points) and Northern Districts are halfway through their round six game in Napier. The Stags are on top after seamer Brett Randell became the first player to take five first-class wickets in five balls.
If Otago wants to stay in the race for their first Plunket Shield title since 1987-88, they need a good result against Auckland.
Volts coach Josh Tasman-Jones was still tossing up whether to bolster the ranks with another spinner for the trip north when he spoke to the Otago Daily Times late last week.
"I’m definitely expecting it to be more conducive for spin compared to what we had in Hagley Oval," he said.
Otago played five seamers against Canterbury.
Left-armer spinner Ben Lockrose carried the drinks, but he should return to the playing XI for the match against the Aces, and a decision needed to be made on whether to take Zac Cumming or hand a potential debut to Otago A player Lahiru Vimukthi.
He settled on Vimukthi.
Tasman-Jones felt there were plenty of positives to emerge from their rain-affected game against Canterbury.
"Both teams played five seamers and we lost the toss. But our top four applied themselves and, although none of them were able to get three figures, they all batted really well.
"Those first two sessions on day one [produced] good disciplined cricket.
"Jack Boyle spent four hours out there and faced [190] balls. So I think that was the most pleasing aspect, the way those boys batted.
"And then our bowlers did a good job on that second afternoon to get them down for under 200."
Fellow opener Jacob Cumming is having somewhat of a breakthrough season. He is Otago’s leading scorer in the competition.
The left-hander has scored 390 runs at an average of 55.71, while Georgeson’s three-wicket haul saw him move into fourth place in the list of leading-wicket-takers in the competition.
He has 16 wickets at 26.68.
Plunket Shield
Eden Park Outer Oval, 10.30am
Otago: Jack Boyle, Jacob Cumming, Tom Jones, Thorn Parkes, Luke Georgeson, Max Chu, Troy Johnson, Ben Lockrose, Danru Ferns, Jarrod McKay, Lahiru Vimukthi, Thomas O’Connor.
Auckland: Dale Phillips, Sean Solia, Harrish Kannan, Bevon Jacobs, Cameron Fletcher, Lachie Stackpole, Simon Keene, Ryan Harrison, Adi Ashok, Rohit Gulati, Ben Lister, Samrath Singh.
