There were contrasting fortunes for the two leaders in Dunedin club tennis on Saturday.
A depleted Taieri team failed to register a single rubber against the Tertiary club, while St Clair was taken to the limit but held on to beat Balmacewen.
Taieri has set the pace for much of the season but has struggled with depth in the lower order when absences or injuries occur.
No1 Carlos Reid was away, Graeme Clarke is injured and Darryl Paterson and Phil Williams struggled to cope with their promotion.
Paterson went down 6-0, 6-0 to Otago No1 Aaron Hicks, a student from Auckland, and Nelson student Hamish Low beat Williams 6-3, 6-2. Hicks was partnered in an entertaining top double by his Howick club-mate Chris Duncan when they beat Paterson and Williams 6-2, 6-2.
In the individual match of the day, Paddy Ou (Balmacewen) wore down the more powerful Mitchell Sizemore 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in the top singles match.
Ou faced three set points at 2-5 down in the first set, and two more at 4-5, but recovered to win it 7-5 after Sizemore held back or pulled his usually big forehand and threw in a double fault.
Shane Keenan, who travels from Oamaru to play for Balmacewen, was busy at the net and downed Tony Ryder 6-3, 6-4, and although berating himself for errors, put enough winners together.
However, St Clair swept the lower order. Fraser Richardson picked up a set against Robin Verseeg but this was matched by Sizemore's consolation set, and St Clair won the contest by 64 games to 58 on the countback.
