It was a wild and windy Saturday for Tennis Geelong’s Junior and Senior pennants this week with the conditions making life difficult for many players across both competitions.
It was a day mostly for the away teams in the afternoon’s 1 Mixed with three of the four matches going to the visitors.
The one match going the way of the home team was where Western Heights hosted Moolap Black, and while the courts enclosure provided some relief from the blustery conditions, play was still tricky. Evie Ryan and Matthew Evans kicked off the day for the Heights with a 6-4 win in the first mixed, but Moolap countered in the second with Courtney Leech and Cameron Dempster winning 6-2.
The doubles were both tight, but the Heights put themselves ahead with Ryan and Mel McClelland getting up 6-4 and Nathan Gibson and Aiden Taorei in a tie-break. Dempster and Rebecca Reinert put Moolap back in touch winning the sixth 6-2, but McClelland and Evans held out Leech and Matt Pettigrew 7-5 to take the tie four sets to two, the win pushing Western Heights into third place, and relegating Moolap Black back to eighth.
Hamlyn Park helped themselves off the bottom of the ladder with a win over Moolap Gold, and Gold remaining at seven points out of the four. Moolap started very well with proven combination Ange Oldham and Matt Allen winning the first mixed 6-3 while Rita Nelis and Michael McKenzie followed suit in the second, also winning 6-3. From there however, Hamlyn Park got their game together with Tiffany Gray and Kerrie Fatone winning the women’s 6-2, and Steve Peretin and Nash Moed the men’s 6-4 putting the teams back on level pegging going into the reverse mixed.
Gray and Peretin kept the momentum going, winning the sixth 6-4, leaving the fifth to determine the match, with Fatone and David Weidmann grinding out a tie-break win to put Hamlyn Park ahead four sets to two and three games.
Moolap’s bad day continued with the White team also going down in their match against Wandana Heights. Wandana’s Natalie Killeen and Hamish McNaughton battled to win the first mixed 7-5 while Tamika Hodge and Paul Dean had a slightly easier time winning 6-1.
The doubles were both close with McNaughton and Dean getting the men’s 6-4, while the Amy’s, Lizmore and Kuskunovic, snuck through in a tie-break for Moolap. In the reverse mixed, Lizmore and Darcy King kept Moolap in touch winning 6-4, but Hodge with McNaughton taking the last 6-4 to give McNaughton his third set for the day, Wandana took the points and maintained their lead on top of the ladder.
Grovedale were beaten again by Clifton Springs this week, who appear to be their bogey team, with a second loss to the sixth placed team. The Springs couldn’t have asked for a better start with Alison Scott and Peter Grunberg winning 6-0, while Jess Lee and Bernie Attard put Grovedale on the board winning 6-4.
From there it was all Clifton Springs, with Elodie Greenwood and Emily Mortimer taking the women’s 6-1, Grunberg and Matthew Meier the men’s 7-5, before the reverse mixed of Greenwood/Grunberg and Scott/Meier 6-4 and 6-2 for a five set to one win. The win puts them within one point of fifth and only eight points of the four.
Wandana Heights now appear to have a strangle hold on the minor premiership, 11 points clear of Grovedale in second, but with only 13 points separating second and sixth and four rounds still to play, there are still finals positions to be had for the teams that are good enough.
