Cousins Shield / Mitchell Cup, Devoy Squash Club, 4th - 6th June 2021
 

For the first time in a few years Henderson had both a Men’s and a Women’s team in this competition.  The Cousins Shield/Mitchell Cup is the competition that finds the best men's and best women's team in New Zealand for that year.  It is a coveted competition that is held in high regard across the squash cubs of New Zealand.  This year it was held at the Devoy Squash Centre - 18 men's teams and 12 women's teams.  
The women's team contained Shelley Kitchen, Chelsea Johnson, Maia Smales, Bree Brown, Maaike Kopittke and Lucy Aspinall.  Being 12th seeds they were always going to find it tough, however the girls gave it their all in all the matches, losing 4/1 to Taupo in their 1st round.  The only winner in this match being Maaike Kopittke, beating their 5th string lady 3/2.  Next up was Marlborough ladies.  Wins for Shelley at #1 string and a great debutant win for Lucy Aspinall at #5 string set up a decider between Maia Smales and Michaela Kerr (various National masters titles).  Maia came out strongly and won the first set with some great attacking squash.  Unfortunately, Michaela had too much experience, despite a valiant fight from Maia losing the match 3/1.  This meant that Henderson played Mana Squash (Wellington) for 11th/12th position on Sunday.  Shelley again won at #1 string; however, this was the only win, with the team losing 4/1.
The men's team was made up of a mixture of young talent and experience, Lance Beddoes, Leo Fatialofa, Mason Smales, Neil Rossin, Apa Fatialofa Jnr and Jordan Tiplady.  The team were seeded 4th and were hopeful of making their seeding or possibly even improving on their seeding.  First up was Hamilton Tennis and Squash Club.  Wins for Leo (3/0) and Apa (3/1 - 18/16 in the 4th) set up Lance to complete the overall win 3/0 versus Ben Calvert.  Rossin beat fellow Master’s player Johnathon Cheeseman and Mason beat Ben Thornton 3/2 to complete a solid 5/0 victory to start the campaign.  The next match was a big quarter final versus Herne Bay.  Rossin started the fixture with a big battle with fellow Northland representative Nick Wilson.  After just over 1 hour, Rossin unfortunately lost 11/9 in the 5th.  Leo re-addressed the balance with an impressive demolition of an 'argumentative' Chris Lloyd 3/0.  Lance then dispatched George Crosby 3/0 , making the tie 2/1 in Henderson's favor.  Apa had a big battle with fellow junior Ben Adams, unfortunately losing out, despite an almighty effort 3/1.  This meant it was up to Mason Smales to beat his training partner Matt Taylor in the deciding rubber.  The team and the crowd were incredibly tense; however, Mason produces a performance that dominated and destroyed his opponent, moving him around like, 'he was on a piece of string', comfortably winning 3/0.
The jubilant team now faced an incredibly strong ‘Lugton Park (#1 seeds) in the semi-final.  Apa tried his best against former NZ U19 Champion FIynn Trimble, getting a hard-earned game but going down 3/1.  Leo played incredibly well against Temwa Chilese, however lost 3/0.  Lance and Mason both lost and Jordan in his debut battled hard as #5 string, getting the first game however eventually losing out 3/1.  We were never going to win that one!!!!
Finally, on the last day, the team had a long shot at securing 3rd in the 3rd/4th play-off v Hutt City Squash (Wellington).  Rossin started the team off again.  He faced an old foe: Matt Nation.  After a slow start, 2/0 down, he battled back to make it 2 all.  Despite a huge effort Rossin ran out of puff against his A1 and younger opponent, losing 3/2.  This meant Leo had to win.  At 2/1 down things looked bleak, but good tactical advice from Beddoes enabled him to win the last 2 games and take a hard-earned match 3.2 against Jonny Barrnett.  Lance tried his best against Evan Williams (NZ National Champion), however lost 3/1.  Apa went on knowing that he had to win to give Mason a shot at taking out Scott Galloway and securing 3rd place.  Unfortunately, this was one match too far for Apa, losing 3/1, despite a monumental effort, where he more or less ran himself to a standstill.
Many thanks to the supporters and Steve Lonergan for all their help over the weekend.  Tael Solutions for being the main sponsor and Mortgage Care, Goldsworthy and LJ Hooker for being the secondary sponsors for this event.  We have a pretty young Men's team so the future looks bright and we will hopefully take home the 'Shield' to Henderson at some point in the near future!