Lucindale was the host for the 2020/21 Southern Ports Tennis Grand Final with the venue providing an amazing atmosphere which felt heightened this year with extremely close competition.
The day started early with Divisions 2 and 3 filling the courts first with players resonating excitement for the many spectators that had come to watch.
All three divisions ended up being easy wins which was a surprise to everyone around the green courts of the Lucindale Country Club.
Despite the end scores being convincing the tennis played was of a high standard despite the challenging wind at times.
The Higgins Family Division 1 Shield then started play around 1pm with both Naracoorte and Robe Roosters eager to serve up the action.
In the grand final between Naracoorte and the Robe Roosters, the Roosters came in as underdogs after Naracoorte dominated all year as everyone had witnessed.
The mixed doubles started well with the Roosters taking a lead of 4-2.
Sid Malone and Katelyn Baker won the first set of the day 6-0 over Tim Malone and Lisa Hall, while in the singles the Roosters again took control winning eight out of 12 sets.
Egan Regnier redeemed himself from two weeks ago winning 6-1 over George White while Lisa Hall did the same winning 6-3 over Katelyn Baker while Courtney Drabsch showed how much she has improved with a solid win of 6-0.
As the last doubles started the Roosters held a 12-6 lead and needed one more set to bring home the shield.
The experienced pair of the “Special Ks” Lewis Ling Simon Ferguson won the 13th set 9-4 to seal the deal.
The result allowed the mighty Robe Roosters to win the Division 1 shield winning the day 15-9.
Division 2 had the Lucindale Koalas and Wombats playing off for the Ratcliff Family Shield.
Despite having a player out injured, the Lucindale Koalas flexed their muscles winning 17 sets to 7 to win the Division 2 flag.
The eventual victors showed their form from earlier in the season, dominating the day despite the initial loss of Trevor Smart through injury.
But the team was able to cheer him on later in the evening as he claimed the most singles and doubles wins for the Lucindale Tennis Club.
The Koalas shot out to a lead early winning four of the six mixed doubles.
The Koalas only dropped two women’s singles and two men’s singles and came home strong to win all but one of the men’s and ladies’ doubles.
Tim Durik and Chandler Smart won in a tie break 10-9 against Brad Hocking and Matt Waugh, while both the other men’s doubles were close at 9-7.
After just beating Chandler in a tie break two weeks ago, Hocking meant business in the decider winning his singles 6-0, while Eliza Hanbury, Andrea Buckett, Mark Buckett, Sam Crocker and Mel Bil won all their matches.
Playing off for Division 3 Goldfinch/Drabsch Shield was the combined Frances/Lucindale Eagles and Millicent/Beachport.
Frances/Lucindale Eagles continued their form from last week and secured the win 16 sets to eight with their men leading the way only dropping one single match to be crowned winners of the Division 3 flag.
After the mixed doubles the scoreboard was locked at three a piece, with the middle of the order having easy wins to the Eagles.
The top two and sixes had tough games but they all went the way of Millicent/Beachport with the top double being a great game resulting in a tie breaker.
Onto the singles and this is where the Eagles started to pull away. It was 10-7 the Eagles’ way with a single still to come off, so Millicent/Beachport hoped for a win to bring it back to only two sets.
But with the Eagles men only losing one single and then winning all doubles made it very tough. There were some fantastic matches that were played all ending in long games.
Jacob Lang got close to winning Millicent/Beachport’s second men’s single going down to Bob Williams 6-4.
Lachie Lang (Millicent/Beachport) had an early lead against Jane Fitzgerald (Eagles) but the latter was not giving in and got herself back into the game to be up 6-5 40/0.
But then it was Lachie Lang’s turn to dig deep and they went into a tie breaker where Fitzgerald got the early lead 6-2 but the former was determined to claim the win.
Other great matches were between Eagles Sophie Ford and Emma Lang, with Lang getting the win in a tie breaker and Flo Burgwin beating Sally Bateman 7-5.
The Eagles only needed to win one more double to secure the win for the day but Millicent/Beachport were not giving up.
The Eagles proved too strong again in the doubles with Millicent/Beachport only winning the top women’s double to run out premiers 16 sets to 8 with three set winners Flo Burgwin, Craig Jones, Peter Lawrie, Mon Van Dyk, Bob Williams, Sarah Hinge and Angus McTaggart for the Eagles while Melissa McGrath was the sole Millicent/Beachport player to achieve the feat.
