Mount Gambier and Districts Tennis action resumed on Saturday after a week off, with some exciting matches throughout the division. With the regular season almost over many teams are fighting hard to claim their spot in the top four for a chance to win a flag.
Division 1 – While the top three sides locked in to play finals tennis, fourth and fifth placed sides Mount Gambier and Glencoe will be fighting hard until the end to get that final spot in the top four as it is anyone’s to take with only two rounds left.
Reidy Park v Glencoe
In the men’s top doubles Reidy’s Dane Heemskerk and Ben Gaffney faced Glencoe’s Dylan Childs and Tim Biggins.
The first set was very competitive with Childs and Biggins edging out the set with a 6-4 win.
In the second set the Glencoe pair turned up the heat, closing out the match with a 6-0 win.
In the bottom doubles Glencoe’s James Braun and Will Maloney took on Reidy’s Ty Lang and Harrison Ellis in a highly competitive match.
In the first set Braun and Maloney came out on top with a close 6-4 win.
In the second set Glencoe played even better, finishing off the match with a 6-2 win.
In the ladies top doubles Reidy’s Bailey Young and Maggie Collins took on Glencoe’s Sarah Edwards and Abbie Cocks.
Young and Collins proved to be too good as they claimed the set 6-2.
Glencoe’s Laura Edwards and Alice Tentye took on Bailey Young and Sarah Brown.
Young and Brown took care of Edwards and Tentye with a 6-3 victory.
Maggie Collins and Sarah Brown played Alice Tentye and Abbie Cocks in the bottom doubles with Collins and Brown claiming the set 6-1.
In the men’s top singles Dane Heemskerk took on Dylan Childs.
Childs continued his elite form in the second half of the season, defeating Heemskerk 6-1.
Ben Gaffney and Tim Biggins played each other with Gaffney getting the last laugh for the day.
Biggins kept the match competitive but Gaffney was too good, claiming the set 6-3.
James Braun finished his day undefeated as he played Ty Lang.
Lang took a few games off Braun but Braun did not let that phase him as he closed the match out 6-3.
Like his doubles partner, Will Maloney also finished the day undefeated.
He faced Harrison Ellis and won 6-3.
In the top ladies singles Sarah Edwards took on Bailey Young.
Edwards has found some good form in 2024 picking up her first singles set for the year with a 6-3 win over Young.
Maggie Collins faced Laura Edwards in their singles match up.
Collins came away with the set only dropping two games and defeating Edwards 6-2.
Sarah Brown and Abbie Cocks played out a highly competitive match in their singles.
The pair took the match to a tiebreaker with Brown coming out on top.
By the end of the day the two teams were tied on six sets each with Glencoe edging out the win over Reidy on games.
Glencoe finished with 65 games and Reidy fell short on 57.
This win still keeps Glencoe out of the top four and behind Gambier by a few games.
Next week the two teams play each other so it should be interesting to see if Glencoe can crack the top four.
Uniting v West Gambier
Uniting’s Andrew van den Hurk and Kobe Cole continue to play top tennis together as they played West Gambier’s George White and Shaunn Robinson in an exciting top men’s doubles match.
In the first set the Uniting duo came out on a mission as they took the set 6-3.
In the second set White and Robinson fought back, making van den Hurk and Cole work hard to claim the match.
Uniting took the set 6-4.
In the bottom doubles a marathon game was played between Uniting’s Jace Maxwell and Sam Batty and West Gambier’s Toby Stutley and Pattrick Robinson.
The West pair took the lead in the game, claiming the first set 6-4.
In the second set Maxwell and Batty bounced back, levelling the score one set all with a 6-3 victory.
In the super tiebreaker Maxwell and Batty closed out the set and the match with a 10-6 victory.
In the top ladies doubles Uniting’s Tessa Megaw and Ashlea Dunn continued their great form as they took down West Gambier’s Emily Jolley and Joanne Sealey 6-0.
In the next ladies doubles West Gambier’s Emily Jolley and Ella Jolley faced Uniting’s Tessa Megaw and Venessa Maxwell.
The Jolley sisters put up a good fight but could not get the job done, falling short in a 6-3 defeat.
In the bottom ladies doubles Ashlea Dunn and Venessa Maxwell took on Ella Jolley and Joanne Sealey in a close match up.
The neck to neck match was decided by a tiebreaker with the Uniting ladies coming home with the set and the clean sweep in all three doubles matches.
In the top men’s singles match Andrew van den Hurk took the court against George White, with van den Hurk continuing his dominance this season taking down White 6-1.
In the next men’s singles Jace Maxwell came up against Shaunn Robinson in an exciting battle.
Both players gave themselves opportunities to take the match but Maxwell came out on top with a 6-3 win.
In Kobe Cole and Toby Stutley’s battle Cole kept his singles streak going with a nice win over Stutley 6-2.
Sam Batty finished his day with a nice win over Patrick Robinson.
Robinson fought hard and took a few games off Batty but was ultimately defeated 6-3.
In the ladies top singles Tessa Megaw faced Jess Stutley.
Only playing singles, Stutley was fresh and ready to face Megaw.
Stutley came away with the set for West 6-2.
Ashlea Dunn and Emily Jolley played off in their singles.
Dunn finished her day undefeated as she claimed the set over Jolley 6-1.
Ella Jolley bounced back from her doubles matches and took down Jade Delaney in a close 6-3 battle.
Uniting defeated West Gambier 10 sets to two and remains firmly at the top of the ladder as the finals approach.
Mount Gambier v Mount Schank
Mount Gambier’s Will Cameron and Will Le Cornu faced Mount Schank’s Will Boston and Alex Laube in the top men’s doubles.
Boston and Laube started slow in the first set as the Gambier pair got the set 6-1.
In the second set Boston and Laube could not find any rhythm and fell behind again.
Cameron and Le Cornu closed out the second set and the match 6-2.
In the men’s bottom doubles Mount Schanks John Ralston and Jack Meyer took on Mount Gambier’s Hayden Hancock and Tyler Hannigan.
The Gambier duo started off hot, claiming the first set 6-2.
In the second set Ralston and Meyer fought back, picking up a few more games.
However, Hancock and Hannigan were too good, getting the set 6-3.
On the ladies side of the draw Mount Schank had only two ladies and forfeited the bottom doubles and single.
In the top ladies doubles Mount Schank’s Bella Laube and Sophie Burt took on Mount Gambier’s Alita Huyser and Shae Delaney.
Huyser and Delaney were too good on the day and took the set over Laube and Burt 6-1.
Will Cameron and Will Boston faced off in the top men’s singles.
The two Wills played a competitive match with Boston coming out on top and picking up the Schank’s only set for the day 6-3.
In the number 2 men’s singles Will Le Cornu took and Alex Laube.
Le Cornu has found some good form heading into the end of the season with a 6-1 win over Laube.
Hayden Hancock and John Ralston played a great match in their singles.
Ralston made Hancock work hard in the match as Ralston nearly took the match to a tiebreaker.
Hancock closed out the match late picking up the set 7-5.
Tyler Hannigan and Jack Meyer played each other in the bottom men’s singles match.
Meyer fought hard but was unlucky as Hannigan ultimately won the match 6-1.
In the top ladies singles Bella Laube took on Alita Huyser.
Both ladies played some great tennis but Huyser proved the better player, winning 6-4.
Mount Gambier’s Giaan Ferguson and Mount Schank;s Sophie Burt battled it out in the singles.
Ferguson took home the set for Gambier with a 6-2 victory over Burt.
Mount Gambier defeated Mount Schank 11 sets to one.
With this win Gambier stays in the top four and is tied with Glencoe on wins and losses but beat them out on games.
After round 13 United kept their spot at the top of the ladder with 190 points.
West Gambier is second on 142 points with Reidy Park third on 126 points.
Mount Gambier remained in the top four on 101 points with Glencoe closing in with 92 points.
Mount Schank remains at the bottom of the ladder with 12 points.
With only two rounds left Glencoe will have to be playing their best tennis against Gambier next week if they want to make the finals.
Division 2 – In round 13 Suttontown/Glencoe had the bye.
Mil Lel/ Reidy Park played Mount Schank/Mount Gambier with Mil Lel/Reidy Park winning 8-4.
West Gambier Red took on West Gambier Blue with West Red winning 9-3.
Suttontown/Glencoe moved to first with 152.5 points.
West Gambier Blue fell to second with 142 points with West Gambier Red staying third with 136 points.
Mil Lel/Reidy is fourth with 115.5 points and Mount Schank/Mount Gambier remains last on 83 points.
Division 3: In round 13 Uniting/Glencoe had the bye.
Mount Gambier took on Moorak and defeated them 11-1.
Mil Lel faced Suttontown with Suttontown winning 12-0.
Centrals and Glencoe faced each other with Centrals winning 9-3.
Mount Gambier stayed first with 177.3 points with Centrals second on 149.3 points.
Uniting/Glencoe moved to third with 137.6 points.
Glencoe falls to fourth with 134.2 points.
Suttontown moved up to fifth with 111.9 points and Mil Lel dropped to sixth 97.6 points. Moorak stayed last with 92.9 points.
