In Round 3 of the SportsPower Southern Posts Tennis Association, the sun finally made an appearance and it felt like the summer of tennis has started.
The Lucindale Wombats claimed top spot on the ladder with another win on games over the Koalas.
The Robe Roosters lifted themselves off the bottom, defeating Penola.
Naracoorte’s women rediscovered their form helping them to a comfortable win, while Kingston and Frances continued their strong form.
Naracoorte – 14-133 d Robe Rebels 10-111
Robe Rebels made the journey from the seaside while Naracoorte turned on the weather.
The home side took the early lead securing four mixed doubles.
Poppy Moyle-Read and Daniel Menzel had their first win against Jed Regnier and Kimberley Austin, 7-5.
For the Robe team Andrew Brown and Hayley Agnew clinched a close win.
The women held Naracoorte’s lead in the singles, winning 6/6.
Robe regained ground with 5/6 men’s singles, a notable performance from Robe’s Brown who only dropped one game.
The highlight of the day was the top men’s double with Robe’s Regnier/Jack Nunan clutching the win over Menzel/Jamie Bettoncelli, 10-8.
Three set winners from Naracoorte were the Moyle-Read family and Katelyn Baker.
For Robe, the stars were Brown and Mason Keane.
Kingston 15-132 d Beachport 9-102
It was a beautiful day in Kingston with no wind and plenty of sunshine.
Beachport struggled to fill a team with a few players out on both sides, but they managed to grab a few players including Richard Martin and Jacob Mules from Kingston.
Kingston just got the edge in the mixed doubles winning 4, however ladies and men’s doubles were evenly matched, a great game at the end of the day between the number 3 and 4 ladies with plenty of rallies.
Lucy Corman and Maddie Redman just got the edge over Nicola Crane and Georgia Burns, 10-8.
It was a great game as always between number 1 men Matt Menz and Jake Harris – Harris winning this one 6-4 with lots of great shots and rallies on display from both sides.
Erika Watson at number 5 lady is getting a bit of a name for herself as the tiebreak champ, having another against Nat Chambers and just winning that one.
Three set winners for the day for Kingston: Bianca Cunneen, Neville Hines, Lou Leidig and Tim Parker, with Tim Loveday being the only one to win all three from Beachport.
Overall Beachport put up a good fight considering how short they were and it was a great day of tennis.
Lucindale Wombats 12-128 defeated Lucindale Koalas 12-120
The Lucindale Wombats made the most of the sunshine and had their 3rd win for the season narrowly defeating the Lucindale Koalas.
With only 8 games in it Trevor Smart, Tom Handbury, Sam Crocker, Eliza Handbury, Kiele Longbottom, Alex Klug and Bron Longbottom secured great singles wins.
There were some fantastic matches all round and everyone is looking forward to the fourth round.
Robe Roosters 15-130 d Penola 9-73
Robe turned on the weather, with players finding it quite warm on the court when running around for the ball.
Both sides were looking for their first win of the season.
Penola were struggling to find men so the Roosters decided to give them their number 6 man Harry Hooper for the day, who played up at number 4.
Robe controlled the mix winning 4 out of 6.
The Roosters men kept it going, winning all 6 with a great game on centre court between Tom Emery and Jon Ey, Emery winning 6-4.
There were a few tight singles for the women, with the match of the day between Sam Matthews and Angela Lythgo with people around the club saying the set went for at least 1.5 hours.
Lythgo walked away with the win in a tiebreaker, 7-4.
Again, Robe did well in the last doubles to win 4 out of 6 to claim a 15-9 sets victory.
Three set winners for Roosters were Egan Regnier, Paul Rains, Alex Clements and Leanne Cameron, while for Penola it was Caroline McGrath and Necia Evans.
Frances/Lucindale Eagles 17-140 d Lucindale Cockatoos 7-102 The conditions were perfect for tennis at Frances.
Flo Bergwin served up a magnificent lunch and afternoon tea and the drinks were ice cold.
The Eagles had many 3 set winners, but Tyler Atkinson’s efforts were a standout.
For the Cockatoos, Lachie Grundy and Peter Lawrie played magnificently and won 3 each.
Clare Garner also deserves a mention, as a first timer in the comp she played some beautiful tennis that kept Jane Haynes on her toes.
In Round 4, Penola will finally play their first home game (after moving their Round 2 match to Lucindale.) They will host Naracoorte.
The match to watch will be at Kingston when they host the Lucindale Koalas.
Both teams have only lost one close match each to the Wombats, so both teams will be looking for another win.
Other matches on Saturday will be played at Lucindale, Robe and Beachport.
