The top four spots on the Mount Gambier and District Tennis Association Division 2 are far from set as the season rolls into its final act after a competitive round of action on Saturday.
Mount Gambier Blue and Mount Schank are the big movers snatching the finals berths from West Gambier Blue and Reidy Park, but there is still a long way to go and the fight will not be decided until the final set next month.
Mount Gambier Blue made its move by defending home turf from Reidy Park.
Initially the visitors appeared up for the fight and determined to keep their stranglehold on the finals berth after Michael Ellis got the better of Jamie Clark in a competitive duel to open proceedings.
However, the hosts soon took control and ran away with the contest during a grand singles streak.
Lachlan Patzel, Will Cameron and Jodie Carey brought their best to the courts searing to comfortable 6-1 wins, while teammate Taryn Gartner showed a similar amount of domination winning by four games.
The four-game run may had been broken by Reidy Park’s Maggie Collins, but it sent a shockwave around the courts and the visitors struggled to bounce back.
Patzel and Sam Batty went face to face with Ellis and Chris Cowland in an intriguing doubles match on the Rom Gawrys court with some smoking hits reaching unplayable areas, while others went over the fence and into the backyard of a neighboring house.
It proved to be one of the closest contests of the day, but Patzel’s strength at the baseline and Batty’s wide reach at the net outclassed their Reidy Park opponents.
The fuelled Mount Gambier Blue’s momentum into the doubles and Batty’s dominant volleys kept scoring winners alongside Cameron.
Youngsters Cameron and Patzel then teamed up to crush Cowland and Finn Kensley, while Gartner and Jodie Carey’s 6-4 triumph put Mount Gambier Blue on the verge of a emphatic performance with a 8-2 lead.
But Maddison Kelly and Maggie Collins lifted Reidy Park out of the hole and salvaged some pride with a 6-4 win.
The contest concluded in fitting style when Carey and Jayel van den Hurk brought Mount Gambier Blue back in the winner’s circle to polish off the overall 9-3 triumph.
The win sent Mount Gambier Blue up to third on the ladder and with a five and five win-loss record, while it also boasts the second least amount of lost sets.
Mount Schank also made its move at home at the base of the dormant volcano and erupted to a storming start, which left West Gambier Blue running for safety.
Brendan Mcinnes, Oscar Geddes, Alex Laube, Bella Laube and Nell Eastough all racked up singles wins for the hosts to effectively seal the honours before doubles were even discussed.
Despite the run of wins, it was not such a simple task with the visitors scrapping hard.
Mcinnes was forced to win a seventh game over Jamie Higgins, while Geddes only won by two against Mark Stutley.
But the biggest fight was won by Eastough, who was received a big scare from Kirra McKenny.
The pair went blow for blow across numerous rallies and the contest was only going to be decided by a tiebreaker.
In the end Eastough rose to the occasion and found the winner, while the Laube’s had a much smoother ride to their 6-3 victories.
The only singles success experienced by West Gambier Blue was generated by Charlotte Patzel, who bucked the trend winning comfortably against Abbey Hood.
The standalone win inspired Higgins and Stutley to go the extra mile and strike some revenge against the same players, who beat them earlier in the afternoon.
A 6-3 triumph in the opening doubles battle backed up by another win for Stutley alongside Matthew Charlton threatened to give the visitors a glimpse of a miraculous comeback.
However, normal service resumed quickly as Mount Schank dominated the rest of the day.
The likes of Mcinnes, Eastough, Hood and both Laube’s were all at their best using the angles of the court to win four double sets including a hat-trick at the end of the day.
Mcinnes and Alex Laube had to fight the hardest for their 6-4 win, while the six-set overall win was rounded out in style by Bella Laube and Hood’s six-love smoking.
The convincing win means Mount Schank displaces West Gambier Blue from a finals spot, but with both sides sitting on four wins the battle is yet to be won.
In Glencoe, the hosts hoped to give ladder leader West Gambier Red a scare ahead of finals, only for the latter to hold its undefeated record.
Thanks to Sam Auld, David Cole and Ruth Thami, Glencoe raced out of the blocks winning three singles sets on the bounce to spark conversations of an upset.
But a forfeit plus wins to Shuann Robinson and Elzette Le Roux’s 6-3 win gave West Red all of the momentum as the doubles approached.
The ladder leaders then showed their class with Robinson, Henry Haywood, Toby Stutley, Steph Ward, Dale Domleo and Le Roux all stepping up to win almost every doubles set.
Cole and Sam Hentschke were the only Glencoe players to steal a doubles win as West Red showed why it is the team to beat.
