After singles were level at two-all, Balmacewen was able to clinch both doubles against Eastern Harbour.
Earlier, the feature rubber saw the lower-ranked Ryan Eggers (Harbour) beat Paddy Ou 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in a contest which went for more than three hours. Eggers let out a cry of "Finally!" after he had held three match points in the second set, and prolonged many rallies with impressive retrieving, eventually taking the match an hour after holding the match ball.
Ou was the more aggressive but Eggers continued to soak up the pressure and come back to exert his own.
Henry Neas got one back for Balmacewen when he split sets 4-6, 7-6 with Michael Wilson, who had to retire at that point. This had an impact also in the doubles when Eastern Harbour manager Phil Mirfin substituted in the top double, partnering Eggers and going down 6-2, 6-2 to Ou and Neas.
Newcomer Gareth van Coller was impressive for Harbour when beating Campbell Hodgson 6-2, 6-2 but this was balanced by Will Bourne making a return and beating Leon Jiang 7-6, 6-2. Hodgson and Bourne held on in the bottom double to take the third set tiebreak 10-7.
McGlashan, with a mix of old boys and current students, also had a long day in its 4-2 win against St Clair.
Carlos Reid went down 6-3 in the third set to former schoolmate Mitchell Sizemore, now playing for St Clair, but John Vogel, former No 1 for the national schools’ champion Scot’s College and now playing as a guest, equalled up with a drawn out 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 battling win over veteran Jeff Elliotte.
The difference was provided by promising juniors Lachie Kenneally and Tom Shallard, who took straight sets wins against Damian Hill and Warren Watson although their doubles win was hard-fought at 7-6, 4-6, 11-9.
Taieri beat Otago Boys, with four of the six rubbers going to three sets. Charlie Tomlinson and David Woodward took straight sets wins for the plainsmen while coach Matt McCutcheon and pupil Ayoub Ahmad both won 6-4 in the third.
To continue the marathon trend, the doubles both went to match tiebreak third sets and were shared one apiece, giving Taieri a nine sets to seven margin.
