Barwon heads north for teams event

Under 10 and 12 teams: Alfie Oliver, Samuel Weber, Elsa Grgic, Esther White, Nina Grigsby, Pearl Thompson, Lachie Rae and Zane Ryan. (pictures supplied)

It was Regional Teams Event Series 1 this week, which saw junior teams from the region heading to Wodonga to compete.

The event consisted of mixed teams in 10, 12, 14 and Under and Open sections with matches comprising two boys singles rubbers, two girls singles rubbers and two mixed sets.

Barwon was represented in all four age groups, along with another 21 teams from eight other regions in the state.

The 10 and Under team consisted of Elsa Grgic, Esther White, Alfie Oliver and Samuel Weber, and from their section of four, finished second. All four teams were closely matched with all teams posting at least two wins of their six matches and only four sets separating the top from fourth.

While the team performed well overall, standout for the team was Grgic, who only dropped one set for the tournament.

The best representation was in 12 and under with nine teams in total starting in pools before advancing to playoffs.

Barwon finished second in its pool after a narrow loss to Loddon in the first match, winning both mixed sets and Nina Grigsby taking her singles, so level on rubbers but down on sets, before following up with a 6-0 win over Goulburn to put it into the four to six play off.

The first playoff was incredibly close against East Gippsland and was tied at three rubbers, five sets and only two games in favour of Barwon, with both teams winning one mixed, one boys singles and one girls singles.

The second match resulted in Barwon taking the match six rubbers to love, putting it top of the group and finishing in fourth overall.

The standout for the team was Grigsby, who remained unbeaten for the weekend in both singles and doubles.

Six teams competed in the 14 and Under section and Barwon was a little unlucky, facing eventual winners Loddon Campaspe in the first round, going down 5-1, with the one highlight being Sam Carr in his singles.

The second round was a narrow miss against third placed North East with only three games separating the teams.

With the team starting to gel, it rallied in the final match with a 5-1 win against Wimmera.

Sunday started in the same fashion as Saturday when Barwon faced eventual runners-up Mornington Peninsula, losing five rubbers to one with Hanna Schoenmaekers the highlight in her singles.

The final match of the weekend was against South West and the team finished on a high winning six rubbers to love, finishing in fourth place.

The Open event also consisted of six teams and with only four points separating the top five teams, competition was fierce.

The first match against Goulburn and second against South West were incredibly close with Barwon going down by one game in the first and getting up by one in the second.

The third match was again a long battle against Loddon Campaspe with the final sets needing to be pushed to Sunday due to poor light. Eventually Barwon got over the line four rubbers to two.

This was the same result for the fourth match against North East before going down on sets to Mornington Peninsula in the final match.

The team finished second overall with Gus Maibaum and Matilda Sutherland only dropping one doubles each for the tournament.