Tennis Geelong’s Thursday Triples season culminated on grand final night late December with eight sections all enjoying some fabulous hitting and competition.
Moolap’s Two Phones Chol were hoping for their 10th victory in a row when they hosted Highton’s Net Results in the Section 1 final.
The Phones’ confidence would have been high despite going down to them 4-2 in the final round.
Both teams scored wins in a doubles and singles from the first four sets with Moolap ahead by two games with two sets to play, but Moolap showed why they have been so successful with wins in the singles and doubles, giving the team of Lachy Edgar, Connor Chivell, Callum Davey and Sophie de Wit success for the 10th season in a row.
Hamlyn Park HEAT were hoping to avenge a narrow loss in the winter season when they faced Geelong Lawn 2 in the Section 2 final, but with each team posting a win during home and away, the predicted winner was not clear. Both teams had comfortable wins in the first four sets with Lawn dominating the doubles and HEAT the singles, with HEAT ahead by one game with two sets remaining.
Cameron Harris put the HEAT ahead winning the singles 6-2, then had to wait patiently as the doubles went to a tie-break with the HEAT getting up, making Harris, Lou Arzanovski, Axel Potter-Ayres, Jo Traficante and Ed Jones premiers of the spring season.
Moolap’s Match Points and Highton’s Grown Ups met in the Section 3 final with both having 4-2 wins during home and away. Things were close after the first four sets with comfortable wins across the board, including two donuts, with each team winning a singles and a doubles, but Highton holding a narrow two-game lead.
Anthony Eyles put Highton in the box seat winning the final singles 6-2 and while Joel Wilson and Cristiano Amarnate won the doubles for Moolap, Highton still held the game advantage putting Eyles, Martin Costello and Sara Chol over the line for the victory.
Highton had their second win of the night when Baseline Apologetic defeated Smashville (@Grovedale). Smashville was the only team to defeat Highton this season, in Round 10, but couldn’t back it up in the final with Nick Williams, James Hedlam, Harrison Moore, Phoebe McCormack and Lachlan Prestipino spurred on to a 5-1 win in Section 4.
Moolap’s Aces first four sets with Leopold’s Hit for Brains mirrored their counterparts Match Points with sets tied at 2-all with the away team ahead on games going into the last two sets in Section 5.
Aces were also denied with Leopold holding out to win the final two sets for Amy Lizmore, Hayden Walters and Georgia Verlin to take the premiership.
Grovedale Indies were on the receiving end of their first loss in round 10 to Lara in Section 6, but were given the chance to redeem themselves the next week in the final.
The first two sets were complete opposites with Louis Smith and Ben Griffin winning 6-0 for Lara while Aislynn McKinley won a tie-break in the singles. Grovedale then moved ahead winning the doubles 6-5 and the singles 6-0, but despite being up 3-1 in sets, were only three games ahead, leaving the match still very much alive.
The remaining two sets were incredibly tight with Grovedale taking the doubles in a tie-break and the singles went to Lara in another tie-break, giving Grovedale a 4-2 triumph. McKinlay, Michael Pritchard and Callum Rickard held their nerve because if either result had gone to Lara, the match would have been tied and sent to a decider.
Western Heights Uniting were minor premiers and made the most of the home-court advantage against Wandana Titans in Section 7 with the most convincing win of the night 6-0.
Uniting surprised Wandana after two close matches throughout the season and Aiden Taorei, Evie Ryan, Dilshan Wasala proved too strong with the clean sweep.
It was a family affair with Highton’s Van Awesome facing Familythree (@Drysdale) in Section 8.
Highton won both encounters in home and away so went into the match as favourites, but were lucky to get their 5-1 win with two of three tie-breaks going their way, giving them confidence for the rest of the match. David, Jensen and Ramsay Van Elst were eventually crowned premiers in Section 8.
