Shelley Kitchen bowed out on a winning note but New Zealand still had to settle for fourth when their women's world team squash championship campaign wound up in Palmerston North today.
Fifth seeds New Zealand lost the playoff for third place 2-1 to the fourth-seeded Malaysia, a disappointing outcome considering they beat the Malaysians by that same scoreline when they met in pool play on Wednesday.
The results followed the same pattern as last night's heartbreaking semifinal loss to England, with Kitchen putting the tournament hosts one match up before Jaclyn Hawkes and Joelle King were beaten.
Today's 11-5 11-9 11-6 win over Sharon Lin was particularly poignant for Kitchen, who has made the tournament her international swansong.
A former world No 6 and multiple medal winner at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, 31-year-old Northlander Kitchen can hang her racquet up with a sense of pride, having been unbeaten this week.
She was a rock in her first tournament for nearly a year following the birth of daughter Amalia and a subsequent illness which ruled her out of the New Delhi Games.
Hawkes and King stole the limelight in India but both have struggled for their best form in the latter part of this week.
World No 12 Hawkes was never in it today against the undisputed world's best player Nicol David, who capped an unbeaten week with an 11-5 11-6 11-5 win.
King would have been favoured to be Low Wee Wern in the decisive match but appeared fatigued as she went down 11-13 11-2 11-8 11-1.
Today's final was to pit top seeds England against second seeds Australia.
NZPA