It was a great weekend for tennis, with the sun shining and all matches making the court across the Limestone Coast in the SportsPower Naracoorte Southern Ports Tennis.
There were some big upsets this round with top spot Lucindale Wombats losing its second match in a row, this time to bottom ranked side Penola.
Lucindale’s Cockatoos defeated home ground rivals, while 12 sets all saw Frances/Lucindale just topple Robe Roosters.
Beachport made easy work of the undermanned Robe Rebels and in the match of the round Naracoorte defeated Kingston to take top spot on the ladder.
It’s great to see many juniors once again getting out for some seniors’ tennis.
Penola 12-111 d Lucindale Wombats 12-107
Penola hosted Lucindale Wombats which shaped up to be a hot day out on the courts with the temperature reaching the mid-30s.
Lucindale Wombats came out strong winning four out of the six mixed doubles with Wombats’ number one players Eliza Handbury and Chandler Smart too strong for Penola winning 6-2.
But the Penola Rangers gritted their teeth in the heat and came back winning 3/6 men’s singles and 4/ 6 ladies singles.
Penola’s Daniel Hackwill had another strong singles match winning 6-1 along with new Penola recruit Oliver Homan defeating Adrian Maywald 6-2.
Wombat Handbury had a good hit out against Penola young gun Tegan Lythgo but had too much experience for the 14 year old, winning 6-0.
Penola’s bottom four ladies Kate Macdonald, Caroline McGrath, Leticia Gosse and Necia Evans all came away with a win.
The scores were tied at nine sets each going into the last round of doubles with Wombats winning the Ladies one and two seeded doubles, however Penola ladies three and four seeds MacDonald and McGrath along with five and six seeds Gosse and Evans both winning comfortably 9-1 and 9-2.
The men’s top seed doubles was the last game of the day going to a tie break with Wombats Smart and Maywald winning 10-9 over Hackwill and Homan.
The day finished tied on 12 sets each with Penola winning on games countback handing the Penola Rangers their first win of the season.
Lucindale Koalas 9-98 defeated by Lucindale Cockatoos 15-125
On the first hot day of the tennis season the Cockies edged out the Koalas in some very entertaining tennis.
The ever-reliable mother/son combination of Leanne and Sam Graetz dominated the top of the order, not dropping a set between them.
It was the mid to lower order of the Cockies that got them over the line with some tight tussles just falling to the Cockies.
The matchup between some of Dean Goldsworthy’s tennis protégés was enthralling, with Clare Garner and Cate Orton topping Jess Legoe and Kylie Ware in the doubles.
While results were reversed between Cate and Jess in the singles.
All in all, a great day of tennis on warm but perfect conditions.
Beachport 15-126 d Robe Rebels 9-90
What a ripper of a day for tennis which made for a very nice change.
Both the Rebels and Beachport were struggling for players but they both managed to fill a side.
Beachport only filled its last spots on Saturday morning but despite this fielded a strong line-up.
The day’s matches were quite easy wins for respective teams with the day starting out at three sets each after the mixed doubles.
The number four mixed doubles saw a great battle with Jesse Robertson and Hayley Agnew getting the win 6-4 for the Rebels against sibling combo Ben and Emma Lang.
Being square going into the singles the scene was set for a tussle, but Beachport got the edge and were up by two sets going into the doubles.
Mason Keane and J. Abbott had a hell of a match, with Keane winning another set for the Rebels 7-5.
While the top men’s doubles put on a show with Beachport getting the win 9-7.
Beachport had Axel Joyce, one of the up-and-coming juniors, play his very first senior game and what a great day he had.
He had a great singles match against Jade Lawrie-Read, winning 6-4 and a great tussle in the double with the Rebels taking the set, the only doubles set they would win.
Beachport won the day 15 sets to 9.
Everyone had a great day and it was nice to finally play in some warm weather.
Naracoorte – 14-121 d Kingston 10-98
At Naracoorte, the weather was scorching and so was the tennis.
The mixed doubles trended the way of Kingston with easy wins to the top two and bottom two doubles.
Jorja Mules and Erika Watson had a tough battle against Naracoorte youngsters Max Lush and Alice Redding but came away with a 6-4 win.
In the singles, Naracoorte started their comeback.
Wins to Poppy and Michele Moyle-Read, Jen Malone, Alix Mosey, Sid Malone, Steve Biggins and Max Lush had Naracoorte looking confident.
On the far court, Will Malone and Lou Leidig battled it out in the heat.
Malone securing the win 7-5 after starting down.
For Kingston, Matt Menz, James Lehmann, Georgia Burns and Erika Watson all gained singles sets.
Heading into the doubles Naracoorte lead 10-8.
Kingston pairings Matthew Menz and Shaun Mules along with James Lehmann and Jorja Mules made easy work of their doubles, pushing the scores even.
In a turn of events, Naracoorte’s Katelyn Baker – Alice Redding combo, having lost both singles, turned their day around defeating Georgia Burns and Erika Watson, 9-5.
Kingston was not going down without a fight.
Stacey Lehmann and Alice Mules gave mother-daughter duo, Poppy and Michele Moyle-Read a hard hit.
With all eyes on the match the four ladies turned it on, but Naracoorte was too good, securing the double 9-7.
With a fast win by Jen Malone and Alix Mosey, 9-1, the day was sealed for Naracoorte.
Robe Roosters 12-100 lt Frances/Lucindale Eagles 12-125
Abeautiful day in Robe made for some amazing tennis and the Eagles finally got a match to count as the last three had been a washout.
At the end of the day it was 12 sets all but due to the Eagles ladies having 12 convincing wins, the Eagles won by 25 games.
Three set winners for the Eagles were Sarah Hinge, Mon Van Dyk, Sophie Ford even after serving five double faults in one game and Flo Burgwin.
The match of the day was between the top men Egan Regnier/Paul Rains and James Crossling /Craig Jones it went down to a tie-break and the match went to Robe.
In Round 8 there will be a few more close games.
The Robe Rebels have the home game against Lucindale Koalas.
On the hard court, this could be a challenge for the Koalas with many grass court specialists.
Penola will be looking for a second win when they host Beachport.
The Wombats will face the Cockies on the grass at Lucindale.
The Wombats will certainly be looking for a win after two losses saw them lose top spot on the ladder.
Match of the round will be Kingston vs Frances/Lucindale Eagles.
Both teams have many hard hitters.
If both sides can field their strongest teams, this will be the match to watch.
Finally, Naracoorte will host the Robe Roosters, you can hear Egan Regnier’s prediction for this match on Flow FM Sports Show.
Matches will start from 1pm, get down and cheer on your team.
