Oamaru hosted three Southern League division two ties at its Chelmer St grass courts on Sunday.
The contests were postponed in November following heavy rain, making the courts unplayable on the scheduled date.
Other teams competing in division two had been able to complete their matches in Te Anau.
South Canterbury, Otago B and North Otago B fielded evenly matched line-ups on Sunday, making for closely contested ties that went down to the wire.
Otago B sneaked home 7 rubbers to 5 against a doughty South Canterbury combination.
Otago No1 Marco Hartono accounted for Connor Brosnahan in a big hitting contest.
Rachel Ellis got one back for South Canterbury at the top of the women’s order in a 6-1, 6-3 result over Makayla Ramage.
Crystal Chiang bagged a crucial win at No3, securing a point for her team in a super tiebreak win over Jess Callaghan. Otago led the Timaru-based team 5-3 after the singles.
The result came down to the second men’s doubles, a match in which eventual winners Matt Rusher and Phil Mirfin saved no fewer than eight match points, taking the rubber 14-12 in the super tiebreak and securing a 7-5 overall tie win for Otago B.
North Otago B took on Otago B in the afternoon, dominating the men’s singles matches, but unable to gain wins in the women’s singles.
Crystal Chiang and Shreenidhi Mahamuni played strong hands for Otago B as they shaded their respective opponents, Judith Wallace and Steph Black, in super tiebreaks.
Josh Cochrane, the evergreen Glen Claridge and Tom Pickles scored singles wins for North Otago, the latter in a close tussle with Nick Cutfield.
Otago led 5-3 after the singles and consolidated its edge with three doubles victories, eventually prevailing eight rubbers to four.
In the remaining tie played on Sunday, South Canterbury beat North Otago 9-3.
The weekend’s results mean Southern Lakes B continues to lead the points table, closely followed by Otago B. The teams will meet again in Dunedin in late February when they square off in round two alongside their division one counterparts.
-- FRASER RICHARDSON
