Eagles ace competition to secure Southern Ports ladder lead

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Eagles ace competition to secure Southern Ports ladder lead

The Frances/Lucindale Eagles have cemented their position at the top of the ladder in the Southern Ports Tennis Association 2024/25 season, with a convincing win over second place Beachport Buccaneers.


The Eagles were relentless in round 8, winning nine out of 12 singles, four mixed doubles and three doubles against the in-form Buccaneers.


In other matches, the Kingston Crays proved too good for the Robe Roosters, in the ‘Lucindale clash’ the Wombats came away with the win.


Penola toppled the Robe Rebels; and it was a washout in Beachport.


Frances/Lucindale Eagles 16-133 def. Beachport Buccaneers 8-91


Fortunately the rain stayed away so that all matches were completed in the top of the table clash between the Eagles and Buccaneers.


There were many close games and plenty of skillful and tactical entertaining tennis for the crowd.


But it was the Eagles who started the day ahead winning four mixed doubles.


The Eagles continued the strength into the singles with 6-0 wins to James Crossling, Tarrant Fudge and Angus McTaggart.


Gerard McGrath, Ben Lang and Maddie Redman found some sets for the Buccaneers, but the Eagles were just too strong.


The contest of the day was the doubles rubber between Eliza Handbury/Gerard McGrath (BP) and Craig Jones/Oliver Close (E).


The Beachport pair eventually won in a tie break 9 -7, game score 10-9.


The fitness and skill on display was second to none and all four players had to dig deep to do their best.


Three set winners for the Eagles were Tarrant Fudge, James Crossling, Angus McTaggart and Flo Burgwin, while for the Buccaneers it was Maddie Redman.


Kingston Crays 19-138 def. Robe Roosters 5-64


It was another Friday night game in Kingston against the other Robe team and the weather and atmosphere was once again awesome.


We started with the singles to try and beat the dark, Matt Menz and Paul Rains put a show on again with plenty of top spin and trick shots on show court, Matt getting his revenge winning 6-3.


There was another entertaining singles game between Steve Edwards and Louis Ling with plenty of rallies unsurprisingly, Steve winning 6-4.


Hudson Menz and Rachelle McKay had a good singles game with lots of consistent shots and good serving, Rachelle winning 6-3 and being the only woman for Robe to win her singles.


Kingston won all bar one of the mixed doubles, Peter Obst and Rachelle McKay teaming well to take a convincing win 6-0 over Will Edwards and Hudson Menz.


Paul Rains and Peter Obst were the only ones to win the doubles at the end of the day, Kingston women were too strong, the senior and junior combination working well for both Bianca Lawrie and Hudson Menz to beat Hayley Agnew and Rachelle McKay 9-0 while another strong adult and junior combination at the end of the table Nicola Crane and Jessica Zwart also played well to take another clean sweep 9-0 over Phoebe Baker and Maddie Baker.


Kingston were too strong with multiple three set winners, while Peter Obst was the sole three set winner for Robe.


Lucindale Koalas 9-115 def. by Lucindale Wombats 15-134


It was a lovely day for tennis at Lucindale with the play off between the Lucindale Cockies and the Lucindale Koalas, with Cockies just getting bragging rights.


There were lots of close matches, with play starting early due to Christmas shows later in the day.


Duncan nearly made the bus run late for his Christmas show deciding to take his men’s doubles to a 9-all tie break, pairing up with Tom McKinnon to beat Limpy Wilkin and Sam Sherwin.


Erin McWaters, who also needed to get on the same bus, also decided to take her women’s doubles to a 9-all tie break too, pairing with Jude Pilkington to just come up short against Lissy Orton and Kiele Longbottom.


Leanne McCarthy, needing to get to another Christmas party, decided to finish her day off with a tiebreaker against Andy Buckett, with Andy just getting there.


One of the closest and longest matches of the day however was between Peter Stock and Alber Nel, with some epic rallies that never looked like ending, Alber getting the gong 7-5.


Well done to three match winners Leanne Graetz from the Koalas and Kiele Longbottom, Mark Buckett, Alber Nel and Bron Longbottom from the Wombats.


Robe Rebels 6- 83 def. by Penola Rangers 18-141


After a morning of torrential rain in Robe and the day nearly being called off, Penola travelled to Robe expecting the day to be washed out however 1pm came and the rain stopped and skies cleared for a beautiful afternoon of tennis.


Penola were up and about winning 4/6 of the mixed, with Egan and Jed Regnier too strong with Hackwill and Edge winning all three of their matches for the day in men’s one and two, with some highly spirited matches being played.


Penola women were too strong winning all the ladies singles and ladies doubles.


K Finch, C McGrath, A Rainsford, J Seider and M Coomans won all their three sets for the first time.


Beachport Pirates v Naracoorte – WASHOUT


Naracoorte players travelled to Beachport where the courts were still recovering from an early deluge.


The rain continued to drizzle down and despite trying to get some matches going, the afternoon was declared a washout.


Round 9


With the Test cricket in Adelaide on Saturday, expect to see plenty of teams undermanned or looking for players.


Naracoorte will travel to Robe to face the Rebels, while Lucindale Wombats will host the Robe Roosters.


Also on the grass, the Eagles will take on Kingston Crays. Penola will host the Lucindale Koalas. In their first ever match up, two the Beachport teams will take on one another at Beachport.

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