Balmacewen men showed their depth, despite the absence of leading players Conrad Wong and Andrew Hilliard, when they beat Mornington-Roslyn Blue on the countback of sets in Dunedin club tennis on Saturday.
Matt White, promoted to the top position, pushed Shaun Paringatai for a time but lost 7-5, 6-2.
Promising youngster Carlos Reid, who has returned from playing junior nationals, took an important set off Tom Beamish but, with James Bourne and Rob McGavin taking straight-sets wins over Oliver Scott and Scott Campbell, the doubles were all important.
Paringatai and Campbell went the full distance to win the top double 15-13 in the final-set tiebreak, and, when McGavin and Reid won a set, the competition leader had done enough.
Taieri men posted a rare win, 4-2, against a depleted Eastern Harbour.
Andrew Mitchell led from the front and won the points that mattered in beating Philip Mirfin 7-6, 0-6, 7-5.
Daniel Kim and Kit Collins also took close-fought wins and, although Mirfin and Ryan Eggers won the top double, Harbour had to default the bottom double through injury.
The match between Balmacewen women and Eastern Harbour was left at 1-1 and the double uncompleted after late rain.
Jessie Stevenson, of Balmacewen, battled long and hard to outlast Debbie Cartwright 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, while Georgia Hume beat her older junior opponent Brittany Wong 6-4, 6-4 in the top singles.
The newly formed Taieri team beat St Clair 2-1.
Paula Ferguson, returning to Dunedin competition after playing for Otago and Southern Districts several seasons ago, beat Lauren Fowler 6-2, 6-4 but her sister, Deborah Kirkman, struggled against the more consistent Rakhee Raghunandan.
However, she provided sufficient support for Taieri to win the doubles 7-6, 6-1.
