The second round of Southern Ports Tennis had a taste of all seasons with rain in most locations before the sun came out for the most part of Saturday’s play.
Some convincing wins were recorded across the board with Naracoorte and the Lucindale Koalas showing they are going to be hard to beat.
Both Robe sides must have hit the training courts hard this week after some challenging weekends.
The Roosters alienated the Cockatoos, while the Rebels gave Furner/Beachport a run for it’s money only going down by 18 games.
The match of the round was between Frances/Lucindale Eagles and the Kingston Dolphins. What looked like was going to be another convincing win to after the Eagles came off the courts with the first eights sets.
A team pep talk by Shaun Mules got the Kingston Dolphins up and about and some aggressive play got them over the line in an epic comeback by four games.
Robe Rebels were on the road again this week to Furner.
With play starting at 12:30pm the first three mixed doubles had to play in showery rain, but it did not last long and cleared for a pleasant day.
The Rebels took the lead early winning four of the mixed doubles.
They stayed consistent through the singles with some great matches being played.
Lachie Lang and Rachelle McKay as well as Lucy Corman and Lucy Perkins had entertaining duels with Furner/Beachport winning both 6-4.
Paul Regnier pulled out the racquet again and showed he’s still got the goods beating Darcy Bateman 7-5.
Match of the day was between Todd Watson and Hamish Stevenson with the former winning in an epic 9-7 tie breaker.
The Rebels were still two sets up going into the doubles but Furner/Beachport came away with four out of the six doubles to win the day by 18 games.
The Lucindale Koalas had another good win this week 17 sets to 7 against the Kingston Crays.
With a lot of the Kingston Women’s side away, this allowed some young keen tennis players to get their first hit in the Southern Ports competition.
Hudson Menz made a great debut winning his singles 6-0, Ernie Buckett, also managed to win two of his three matches and Jacob Mules had a tough match up against Tom Handbury.
One of the matches of the day to watch was Kiele Longbottom versus Kate Gale as their long rallies from the baseline were epic to watch.
Matt Menz for Kingston played some solid tennis, winning all his matches for Kingston and only dropping seven games for the day.
He was the only player from Kingston to win all three, while Kiele Longbottom, Chandler Smart, Andrea Buckett, Samuel Crocker and Thomas Handbury won all their matches.
Buckett and Thomas Handbury only dropped four games for the day each.
Naracoorte continued its winning start to the season, opening the day strong with wins in four mixed doubles.
Naracoorte got the whole shot with 6-0 while the Wombats one of their sets in a tiebreaker over A. Mann (7-6 / 7-5).
However, the highlight of the day was the top ladies’ singles where Poppy Moyle-Read just edged out Eliza Handbury 7-5.
Naracoorte won the day 19 sets to 5.
A rainy start to tennis in Robe forced play to start at 1:30pm, but the home side’s changes made the biggest difference.
Robe won the mixed 5-1, but Travis Woodward and Steven Clements producing the goods in a few tight singles for the Roosters in tiebreakers.
The men’s doubles were tight again with the two Matt’s from Lucindale getting over the line 9-7. From a very average start the sun came out and it was a good day all round in Robe with the Roosters winning the day 22 sets to two.
Round 3 is set to be a good one with the match of the round being Lucindale Koalas v Naracoorte.
Can the Koalas use the home ground advantage to get over the strong Naracoorte team?
This will be Naracoorte’s first game back on lawn so it may take them a while to adjust but the Koalas have also played two away rounds so it will be a good battle.
Naracoorte may prove too strong in the end, while other matches for the round see both Robe teams playing the sister Kingston sides.
It will be a big day at Lucindale with the Cockatoos taking on the Wombats and the Eagles hosting Furner/Beachport.
A huge Koalas v Naracoorte game is also being hosted at Lucindale.
There is also plenty of tennis happening outside of the Saturday action for those keen for a hit.
Robe is having social hits on Wednesday and Thursday night’s, Lucindale is doing the same thing on Wednesday plus a ladies hit each Friday morning.
Furner/Beachport are having a social night Thursday night at the Millicent courts, while Kingston hits on the courts Wednesday nights finished by a BBQ.
