Squash | Top U19 Seeds Power Through In Growthpoint Junior Nationals

THURSDAY, 15 AUGUST 2024 V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa: On an opening day which saw some tense contests, U19 top seeds Dene van Zyl and Luhann Groenewald were quickly into their stride as they coasted to victory at the Growthpoint SA Junior Nationals Squash Championships at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Thursday.

Dene van Zyl- SA Country Districts player Dene van Zyl, top seed in the women’s U19 division, plays a forearm during her 3-0 win over Western Province’s Cailyn Nieuwoudt on the opening day of the Growthpoint SA Junior Nationals Squash Championships at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Thursday.

Intense match-ups litter opening day at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront

Groenewald, the defending Growthpoint U19 champion, had too much firepower for No 8 Louis le Riche (Winelands), winning comfortably in three games.

SA Country Districts (SACD) player Van Zyl, who was third in last year’s tournament, was equally impressive in dousing the challenge of eighth-seeded Cailyn Nieuwoudt Western Province (WP) 11-4 11-4 11-4.

The first day of the Growthpoint Junior Nationals was taken up by qualifying matches, with eight players competing in the each of the U15, U17 and U19 male and female divisions.

The winners advanced to pool A for a round-robin from Friday to Sunday, while the losers will contest pool B to decide positions five to eight.

In arguably the match of the day, U19 fourth seed Ellena Chemaly-Sutherland KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) survived a match point against Border No 5 Cara Knott in the decider to win a five-game thriller.

The Natalian led 9-7 in the deciding game, but a boast into the tin and a Knott winner saw the Border player move to match point at 10-9. But this time Chemaly-Sutherland’s boast was a winner, making it 10-10, and she was then able to seal the deal 12-10 in a desperately close finish.

The day received a cracking finish when No 5 Matthew Earl (Border) held on to defeat fourth seed Judah Phillips (Northerns) 3-2.

Phillips delivered a terrific fightback from 2-0 down, but Earl managed to get his nose ahead early in the fifth game and that’s the way it stayed as he took it 11-8 on his first match point.

There were several other tough contests on the day.

Joseph Feast- of Western Province, seeded five, plays a backhand in his match against KwaZulu-Natal fourth seed Aiden McNeill in the U17 division on the opening day of the Growthpoint SA Junior Nationals Squash Championships at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Thursday. Feast won the match 3-1.

The final match in the U17 boys’ division saw fifth seed Joseph Feast (Western Province) serve up a humdinger against No 4 Aiden McNeill of KwaZulu-Natal.

Feast was a replacement for Eastern Province’s Benji Newman and made the most of his opportunity after dropping a tight first game 12-10.

A swift comeback to win the second game 11-2 was transformed into an uncompromising battle for supremacy in the remaining two games.

McNeill never gave up the fight, but in the end his WP rival was able to edge ahead to win the remaining games 11-8 and 13-11.

There were several intense battles in the U15 age-group, with Enre van Zyl, seeded five, causing a slight upset when he defeated Western Province colleague Liam Hart, No 4, in four games.

The pair were evenly matched for the first two games, but Van Zyl won a crucial third game 11-8 and then took control in the fourth, losing just three points.

Ross Smorfitt, of Eden, was also put through a torrid examination by Border’s Joshua Edwards, who showed fine fighting qualities by fighting back from 2-0 down.

He forced the match into a fifth game decider by taking the fourth 12-10 but was unable to press home his advantage and Smorfitt, seeded three, held his nerve to see off his opponent 11-4 in the final game.

Makayla Naidoo- KwaZulu-Natal second seed Makayla Naidoo, front, goes on the attack against Hanrie Duits of Eden in the U17 division on the opening day of the Growthpoint SA Junior Nationals Squash Championships at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Thursday. Naidoo won the match 3-0.  

There was some good news for Border, though, when Gemma Clark overturned a 2-0 deficit against Northerns player Alyssa Arcangeli to win through to the top U15 girls’ section.

Fifth seed Arcangeli was in control before her fourth-seeded rival showed great determination to stay in the match by winning the third 11-8. There was not much in it at the end, but it was Clark her maintained her momentum by taking the last two games 11-9 and 11-8.

Thursday’s Growthpoint Junior Nationals results were:

Boys U15: 1-Christian Swanepoel (Eden) bt 8-Tom Hardman (KZN) 3-0 (11-1 11-1 11-5), 2-Logan Kidson (Northerns) bt 7-Rupert Good (WP) 3-0 (11-0 11-7 11-3), 3-Ross Smorfitt (Eden) bt 6-Joshua Edwards (Border) 3-2 (11-4 11-5 8-11 10-12 11-4), 5-Enre van Zyl (WP) bt 4-Liam Hart (WP) 3-1 (11-7 9-11 11-8 11-3)

Boys U17: 1-Juan-Corne Brand (Northerns) bt 8-Benjamin Southwood (Northerns) 3-0 (11-4 11-1 11-3), 2-Thomas Boutall (WP) bt 7-Wian Fourie (Border) 3-0 (11-4 11-2 11-5), 3-Joel Rix (Winelands) bt 6-Dean Katzin (Free State) 3-0 (11-8 11-4 11-8), 5-Joseph Feast (WP) bt 4-Aiden McNeill (KZN) 3-1 (10-12 11-2 11-8 13-11)

Men’s U19: 1-Luhann Groenewald (Northerns) bt 8-Louis le Riche (Winelands) 3-0 (11-5 11-1 11-6), 2-Connor Earl (Border) bt 7-Gary Chapman (Joburg Squash) 3-1 (11-8 11-3 8-11 11-3), 3-Devon Osborne (WP) bt 6-Jan-Darius Smuts (Northerns) 3-0 (11-4 11-1 11-6), 5-Matthew Earl (Border) bt 4-Judah Phillips (Northerns) 3-2 (11-6 11-9 4-11 9-11 11-8)

Girls U15: 1-Kate van Biljon (Border) bt 8-Genevieve Lang (WP) 3-0 (11-4 11-2 11-6), 2-Starla Phillips (Northerns) bt 7-Mienke Stander (Winelands) 3-0 (11-8 11-1 11-4), 3-Rylee Howells (KZN) bt 6-Kaylee Verster (Joburg Squash) 3-0 (11-6 11-2 11-1), 4-Gemma Clark (Border) bt 5-Alyssa Arcangeli (Northerns) 5-11 5-11 11-8 11-9 11-8

Girls U17: 1-Elzandri Janse van Rensburg (Northerns) bt 8-Ashley Smorfitt (KZN) 3-0 (11-3 11-1 11-2), 2-Makayla Naidoo (KZN) bt 7-Hanrie Duits (Eden) 3-0 (11-5 11-8 11-5), 3-Brianna Robinson (Easterns) bt 6-Lia Viljoen (Winelands) 3-0 (11-5 11-9 11-7), 4-Vivienne van der Schyff (Free State) bt 5-Anushka Janse van Rensburg (Northerns) 3-0 (11-5 11-4 11-7)

Women’s U19: 1-Dene van Zyl (SA Country Districts) bt 8-Cailyn Nieuwoudt (WP) 3-0 (11-4 11-4 11-4), 2-Chante Leppan (Northerns) bt 7-Demi Senekal (Northerns) 3-0 (11-4 11-6 11-6), 3-Bianke Pienaar (North-West) bt 6-Alex Azevedo (WP) 3-1 (11-9 5-11 11-9 11-7), 4-Ellena Chemaly-Sutherland (KZN) bt 5-Cara Knott (Border) 3-2 (6-11 11-7 7-11 14-12 12-10)