Beachport dealt Kingston their first loss of the season in Round 7 of the Southern Ports Tennis Association, 14 sets to 10 in a fierce afternoon of tennis.
The home team blitzed away early in the piece, leaving top-team Kingston chasing sets across the afternoon.
Frances/Lucindale Eagles had no mercy for an undermanned Penola, only dropping one set.
In similar fashion the Lucindale Koalas put on a dominant display against the Robe Roosters.
However, the Rebels fared better than their counterparts, coming away with a 15-9 set win over Naracoorte.
Beachport 14-125 d Kingston 10-114
The Beachport Pirates took the lead early, winning 5/6 mixed doubles. J. Harris/E. Chambers came away with the win 7-5 over N. Hines/S. Lehmann.
For Kingston, top pair S. Mules/B. Cunneen got one on the board with 6-1 win over N. Lang/S. Morrish.
The Pirates continued to dominate into the men’s singles, winning another five sets.
Jake Harris and Ben Lang both excelled in winning sets 6-1 and 6-0 respectively.
Kingston made their comeback in the ladies singles, led by their top three women Bianca Cunneen, Stacey Lehmann and Alex Menz, who only dropped three games between them.
At the start of the doubles, the Pirates only needed one set to secure the win, but Kingston were not going to lose without a fight.
The Kingston ladies secured all three doubles, including a valiant effort by K. Hines/J. Mules to win 9-7 over E. Watson/T. Sutherland.
But at the end of the day, the Pirates were too strong.
Captain Darcy Bateman and Todd Watson won their double 9-3 to secure the day.
Naracoorte – 9-109 lt Robe Rebels 15-124
The Rebels got off to a flying start against Naracoorte, securing five out of six mixed doubles.
No. 3 pair Pretlove/Vasek (RR) had a tough fight on their hands against Blacker/M. Moyle-Read (N), the Robe pair taking the set 7-5.
Bottom pair Baker/Birchard were the only pair able to put Naracoorte on the board with a 6-3 win over Braithwaite/Ja. Regnier.
In the singles, the Rebels extended their lead with another five sets in the men’s singles.
Jed Regnier kicked off proceedings with a 6-2 win over Daniel Menzel, while brother Egan followed suit against young gun Sid Malone.
Naracoorte were not giving up.
Poppy, Kelsie and Michele Moyle-Read all won ladies singles sets, joined by Lucy Midwinter who toughed it out against Barbara Hensel to win 6-3.
For the Rebels, Jade Regnier got her first win of the season 6-1 in addition to Courtney Drabsch 6-3.
Heading into the doubles, the Rebels only needed one final set to secure the day.
The Regnier brothers were quick to take the day’s win for the Rebels with a 9-3 win over Malone/Menzel.
Robe gained two additional doubles sets while Naracoorte gained three.
Three set winners for the day were Egan and Jed Regnier, George Pretlove, Tim Malone and Courtney Drabsch for the Rebelsl, while Sam Baker was the only three set winner for Naracoorte.
Penola 1-36 lt Frances/Lucindale Eagles 161
A great effort by Penola to get a side together.
Even though the scores were very one-sided there were many hard fought games.
The match of the day was played on show court one and it was between Angus McTaggart (Eagles) and Manny Singh (Penola).
After some excellent forehand shots Angus eventually came out on top 7-5.
Round 8 will see three high stakes matches played on the coast.
It’s a top of the table clash between Kingston and Frances/Lucindale Eagles.
Both teams have produced formidable sides so far this season, but with Kingston’s loss to Beachport, the stakes are high.
The loser of this game could fall out of the top two, leaving the Wombats and Beachport fighting for wins and second place.
The Wombats will travel to Robe to play the Rebels, a task that could prove difficult if the Rebels can field a strong men’s side.
Beachport, running high off their win, will host Naracoorte.
Finally, Penola will host the Lucindale Koalas before their Round 9 bye.
Robe Roosters 1-47 lt Lucindale Koalas 23-159
A strong Lucindale Koalas side was hosted by the Robe Roosters, the conditions were some of the best for the season.
The Koalas got off to the flying start taking all mixed doubles sets rather quickly, the number 6 mixed was the standout mixed with Robe’s M Domaschenz and Matthews defeated by Koalas’ Olive and Wood 4-6.
The standout women’s singles match was played by the numbers 5s with Koalas’ Wood defeating Roosters’ Baker 5-7.
The top men’s single between Roosters’ Rains and Koalas’ Graetz could have gone either way with Graetz getting the upper hand winning 6-4.
The final match of the day also proved to be the match of the day with the top men’s double being high class, and great spectating.
Koalas’ Graetz and Smart defeated Rosters’ Rains and Obst 9-7.
Southern Ports Juniors
Naracoorte Blue 44 def Naracoorte Red 34
Naracoorte Blue won the day with 10 games ahead of Naracoorte Red, 44-34.
Angus and Ashton had a close and highly contested game, with Angus taking the win 7-6.
Max, Sid, Lily and Matilda had wins in their singles for Naracoorte Blue and Georgie and Angus won their singles for Naracoorte Red.
Kingston 54 def Millicent/Beachport 17
It was a great morning of junior tennis with both teams agreeing to meet in Robe to play which was nice for everyone.
The weather was quite windy which caused a few challenges for all the players but that did not stop everyone from having some great rallies.
Thank you to Kingston for some great games which they came away with the win in every game with all very strong players.
Millicent hung in there and played some fantastic tennis, showing improvement every week.
Naracoorte White 47 def Lucindale Koalas 24
It was a great day out with close matches and Taylor England playing her first round of competition.
A long and close match between Vander and Charlie was great to watch with Charlie winning 7-5 and remaining undefeated for the season.
Cody and Sid had another close match with some long rallies and Rylan and Rebecca are to be congratulated for getting the Koalas on the score board.
Well done to Naracoorte White who were too strong on the grass.
Lucindale Roos 46 def Naracoorte Yellow 35
The Lucindale Roos had some close matches in their win against Naracoorte Yellow.
Thomas Malone and Jack Orton just got the win 7-5 in a great doubles match against Harry Robinson and Jimmy Buckett.
Ernie Buckett and Louis Orton were both hitting the ball well in their singles, which ended in a tie breaker going Ernie’s way.
