After rain washed away any chance of play in round 2, the Division 2 players made an eager return to the court in the third week of the 2021-22 Mount Gambier and District Tennis Association season.
In the high-stakes third round, the two West Gambier sides made their moves towards the top of the ladder.
On home turf at Malseed Park, the Red outfit showed its class by overcoming Mount Gambier Green in a tight contest.
Both sides evenly split the 51 games, but the hosts managed to come away with the overall round win after scoring seven sets to five.
West Red enjoyed the perfect start by dominating the opening singles sets.
Josef Marzouk opened proceedings with a 6-4 triumph over Ben Kerin before Shaunn Robinson and Henry Haywood recorded more comprehensive performances against their respective opponents.
Mount Gambier managed to claw back some momentum by winning two of the three women’s sets thanks to the hard efforts of Renae Cameron and Lucy Clarke.
As the contest continued, the fight grew closer and the doubles went back and forth.
Robinson and Marzouk continued their winning form, but Kerin and Andrew Le Cornu hit back for the visitors.
A 6-1 victory to Robinson and Haywood ensured Mount Gambier Green remained interested in the big picture needing to win the remaining two doubles to snatch the premiership points.
However, a tight 7-5 led by Charlotte Patzel denied the visitors despite a dominate 6-0 win to Cameron and Clarke in the final rubber.
West Red’s triumph puts it on level pegging with Mount Gambier Blue at the top of the ladder after the latter cruised past Mount Schank.
The six-set win initially appeared unlikely as Mount Schank started the road trip in convincing fashion.
Brendan McInnes and Ocscar Geddes put the visitors on the board by snatching the opening two singles.
However, Mount Gambier Blue flexed its muscles for the remainder of the contest.
Will Cameron and Taryn Gartner got the ball rolling with big 6-1 victories, while the other singles match-ups all went the way of the home side.
McInnes and Geddes continued their form in the opening doubles duel to put Mount Schank back on the board.
But the 6-3 win was never going to be enough as the Heriot Street club steamrolled to a second consecutive win.
Cameron, Gartner, Jodie Carey and Jayel Van den Hurk were all undefeated.
The closest contest on the three games took place at Reidy Park where the home side met a spirited West Gambier Blue.
Jamie Higgins gave the visitors the ascendancy with a three-game triumph over Christopher Cowland before Michael Ellis dominated his clash against Matthew Charlton.
After the even start, West Blue gained some control through consecutive wins from Mitch Duryea and Brooke Winterfield.
But their advantage was slashed by a 6-0 win to Elly Bachmann and a tighter triumph from Maggie Collins.
With the scoreboard tied up, it was all to play for in the doubles and neither side took a backward step.
Cowland and Ellis put Reidy Park on the board before Higgins and Duryea found an immediate response winning their battle 6-2.
Duryea then teamed up with Charlton to put West in the box seat and start a run of four consecutive 6-4 rubbers which would all have a big impact on the overall result.
One set down, Reidy Park needed to make a move and Maddison Kelly, Bachmann and Collins stepped up.
The trio rose to the occasion winning the 10th and 11th sets to ensure West Blue could not seal the overall victory.
However, Kirra McKenny and Rylee Kuchel made things interesting by snatching the final set for Reidy Park over Bachmann and Collins.
After all six sets were shared, Reidy Park took out the honours by three games.
In the top grade Centrals/Uniting Church confirmed it is the team to beat by knocking over Reidy Park 8-4.
West Gambier also proved too strong for Glencoe winning by the same margin.
