Round 14 of the Southern Ports Tennis Association season resulted in Naracoorte sliding into third spot with consecutive wins over the Frances/Lucindale Eagles and Kingston Crays in the past two rounds.
With the Lucindale Koalas’ win over the Beachport Buccaneers, the second spot in the Div 1 final is still up for grabs.
Top spot holders Frances/Lucindale Eagles had a convincing win over the Robe Rebels, and Beachport Pirates kept themselves in finals contention with a win over the Robe Roosters.
Naracoorte 18-146 d Kingston Crays 6-100
The wind made for trying conditions at Kingston, where Naracoorte took on the hosts – both teams looking to hold third spot and challenge for the Div 1 final.
However with a Luke Combs concert and various other commitments, Kingston were feeling the pressure. Naracoorte took the early lead in the mixed doubles, securing the top four wins. M. Malone/P. Moyle-Read were ruthless against the father-son Mules duo, taking a 6-0 win.
At the bottom of the order, R. Starling/C. Acres found a Kingston a 6-2 win over P. Lawrie/S. Birchard.
The singles provided some entertaining watching for the crowd. A tussle between D. Menzel (N) and William Edwards (K) went the way of the Edwards in a tiebreak; while S. Biggins outplayed N. Hines to win 6-4.
Naracoorte’s ladies were as on-form as ever, taking 6/6 singles sets. K. Baker defeated N. Crane, 6-2, redeeming a 5-7 loss from Round 5. Despite some high-quality tennis from young gun, Jacob Mules, Poppy Moyle-Read scored a 6-3 win. K. Moyle-Read also secured a 6-3 win against T. Parker.
Though the day was firmly in Naracoorte’s winning hands, Kingston went out fighting in the doubles, securing both bottom doubles. Well done to Kingston’s only three set winner Rob Starling.
Robe Roosters 9-96 lt Beachport Pirates 15-125
The Roosters hosted the Pirates in some textbook Robe winds on Saturday.
Gifting the Roosters a 3-0 start through forfeits, the Pirates had their work cut out for them.
With a strong start in the mixed, Beachport took the lead five sets to one. John Forster and Tamara Sutherland made light work of their set, winning 6-1 over Lewis Ling and Tracey Bainger.
The singles were more evenly matched with the score being six sets apiece. Rachelle McKay and Allana Mueller’s singles was tightly contested, finishing 7-5 in Rachelle’s favour.
Frances/Lucindale Eagles 17-140 d Robe Rebels 7-74
Kingston provided the perfect venue for a pre-finals fixture between the Eagles and Rebels. With a combined total of 117.4km of running completed in the Robe Running Festival by the Eagles team during the morning, one could possibly think that the Eagles may have been lacking some energy for the afternoon.
Nevertheless, the Eagles took the win in a convincing manner by 10 sets. Three set winners were Craig Jones, Bob Williams, Angus McTaggart, Jane Fitzgerald, Flo Burgwin, Sarah Hinge and Hayley Crossling (Eagles) and Andrew Brown (Rebels).
Penola Rangers 18-149 d Lucindale Wombats 6-99
No report provided
Beachport Buccaneers 8-82 lt Lucindale Koalas 13-110
Three sets were not played due to double forfeit of number 6 man.
Ben Lang and Sarah Scott defeated Rowan and Tash Wilkin, 6-4.
Noah Lang defeated Rowan Wilkin 6-4, while Ty Lang was defeated by Mitch Baker 3-6.
There were 6-0 wins in the ladies singles to Koalas’ Eliza Handbury, Heidi Ware and Tash Wilkin.
Ben Green and Ben Lang defeated Sid Wilkin and Jarryd Oliver, 9-4.
Round 15
With the final round to be played on February 22, the results will make or break the season for a number of teams.
Frances/Lucindale Eagles will play the Beachport Buccaneers and a win for the Eagles will leave the second Div 1 spot wide open for Naracoorte, Penola or Beachport Pirates. A win to the Buccaneers should cement their spot.
Naracoorte takes on the Beachport Pirates with a A win for either of these teams possibly sealing a Div 1 berth, depending on the above result.
A win to the Robe Rebels over Penola could see them sneak into the Div 3 final, while a victory by Penola gives them a chance at Div 1.
Kingston need a win over the Robe Roosters to keep themselves in finals contention.
Lucindale Wombats will play the Lucindale Koalas and the Koalas would need a big win and a lot to go their way to steal a Div 3 finals spot. But it’s not entirely out of the question.
