Close matches in junior finals

SS7O Ocean Grove: Anna Payne, Remy Cairncross, Cody Hodkinson, Luke Cronwright.

There was a mix of junior semi and prelim finals this week and with matches in total, there was plenty of action across the region.

There were six club vs club battles, with Grovedale in three of them.

While Black defeated Yellow three rubbers to love in Premier A, both singles went to the super tie-break. Black defeated White in Premier A, while Yellow in fourth upset minor premiers Black in Boys 2.

St Mary’s Green had a good win over Blue 5-1 (Boys 13), Ocean Grove’s Blue got over White 6-0 (Girls 5) and Barwon Heads Blue were victors over White 4-2 (Green Ball 3).

There were few upsets, however, Surfcoast Jan Juc ousted Ocean Grove 4-2 (B3), Inverleigh posted a 5-1 win over Point Lonsdale (GB2), Grovedale got up in Boys 9 against All Saints (4-2) and Boys 4 against Wandana Heights (5-1), while Wandana’s Premier B got the win over Hamlyn Park.

There were a mammoth 12 matches that were three sets all, and decided on games, including six of the eight girls finals. Geelong Lawn Green (G1), Ocean Grove Sand (G2), Drysdale (G3), Wandana Heights (G4 and G6) and Highton (G5) all made their respective grand finals and will fight on next week, along with Western Heights Uniting (B2), Highton (B3), Hamlyn Park Green (B6), Bannockburn (B7) and Highton White (GB1).

Special mention goes to Geelong Lawn and Surfcoast Jan Juc in Boys 5, who were tied at three sets 28 games, sending the match to a seventh set, where Oliver Evans and Tahnee Sarim won the match for Lawn.

Geelong Lawn were also victorious in Boys 6, Boys 8 and Boys 9, Highton in Boys 4 and Boys 8.

Ocean Grove would have hoped for better with four of their 12 finalist teams (PremA, B1, B10, G5) winning through this week, however, with strong performances by the winners, their hopes will be high.

Other winners include Surfcoast Jan Juc (B7), Western Heights Uniting (B10), Bannockburn (B11), St Mary’s (B11), Point Lonsdale (B12 and GB4, Grovedale (B13), Inverleigh (G6) and Lara (GB5).