Everyone was a bit nervous about the weather forecast for Saturday with fears of another washout, but thankfully the clouds cleared and all round 5 matches were completed to spark some movement on the Southern Ports Tennis ladder.
Undoubtably the match of the round was at Lucindale where the Wombats snuck over the line against the Koalas with some tremendous tennis being played including an epic comeback.
In one doubles match, the Koalas had the win in their hands at 8-4 40-15 up but the Wombats fought back to win in a tie breaker.
It was always going to be interesting with both these Lucindale teams having only lost the one round so far this season.
The koalas came out firing taking the top four mixed fairly comfortably.
But the Wombats bottom two pairs steadying the ship, Russell Robinson and Samantha Crocker digging in for an important 7-5 victory.
The Koalas men were tough to beat in the singles taking out four of the six matches, but the Wombats ladies made it even at nine sets a piece with the doubles to play.
A fantastic display of men’s doubles at the top with Brad Hocking and Matt Waugh holding on to take the tie-break from Tim Durik and Chandler Smart.
Another tie-break in the five and six double also went the Wombats way with Ethan Hocking and Russell Robinson defeating Sam Crocker and Toby Longbottom.
The Wombats were lucky enough that some of those close sets went their way with the final score Wombats 13 sets 136 defeating Koalas 11 sets 140.
Adrian Maywald and Trevor Smart won three sets for the Koalas and Russell Robinson did the same for the Wombats.
This result has seen the Koalas take a big fall down the ladder to 5th while the Wombats have climbed to 3rd.
The other close match for the round was Frances/Lucindale Eagles who also snuck over the line 13 sets to 11 from Robe Rebels at Lucindale.
The mixed doubles setting the scene for the day with four of the six mixed doubles being a tight tussle and could have easily gone either way.
The remaining matches were all very comfortable wins which saw the Millicent/Beachport team securing a comfortable win over Kingston Crays to go back into second spot.
Millicent/Beachport got out to a good start winning four of the six mixed doubles but the wind was playing some havoc on court keeping it interesting for the players.
Darcy Bateman and Sally Bateman had yet another tie breaker but went down to the winning duo of Hamish Telfer and Stacey Lehmann.
Bateman and Lehmann went on to have another tie breaker in their singles but Lehmann hung on again for the win.
The Crays got another tie breaker win when Ben Teakle beat new recruit Luke Loftes in the longest match of the day while Todd Watson had a great battle with Tim Parker.
The day ended with Millicent/Beachport coming away comfortable winners 17-7.
Naracoorte dominated again with an easy win over Robe Roosters who were missing their number one man, Egan Regnier which was always going to make it tough.
At the end of the mixed, Naracoorte led 4-2, but Robe’s Lachie and Bec Hurst secured one of their sets in a tight 7-5 win.
Match of the day honours went to Lottie Clyne and Bec Hurst after the former fought back from 5-1 down, to take the game to a tiebreaker.
However, Hurst just snuck home with the win, 7-6 as Naracoorte – 18-151 defeated Robe Roosters 6-84.
The poor Lucindale Cockatoos lost a few more feathers this week going down easily to the Kingston Dolphins who are holding onto the fourth spot on the ladder.
Four Mules won their singles, while Nikki Gluyas claimed bragging rights over her boyfriend with a win in the mixed.
There were no less than four tiebreakers on a competitive day of tennis.
The rounds are starting to heat up as every week is so important with no finals leading up to the grand final, so no team wants to let one slip in round 6.
There will be a few close games with Lucindale Cockatoos hosting the Kingston Crays which could decide the wooden spoon position.
The Koalas are desperate for a win against Robe Rebels which will be a great match up.
Naracoorte has given up home ground advantage and are going to the lawn to face the Frances/Lucindale Eagles.
Millicent/Beachport should win when it travels to the coast again to play Robe Roosters but the match of the round will be Lucindale Wombats v Kingston Dolphins.
They are both sitting in the top four of the ladder with three wins and one loss each.
It may come down to who can combine the best in doubles as the Kingston men may have the edge over the Wombats, while the tables could turn in the women’s battles.
