The Robe Rebels have secured the Lewis Ling Cup in Round 9 of the Southern Ports Tennis Association season.
The Rebels put on a dominant display over the Robe Roosters, who struggled to fill their side due to illness.
Christmas festivities continued at Lucindale with three matches taking the court.
It was a good outing for both the Frances/Lucindale Eagles and Lucindale Koalas, securing comfortable wins over Naracoorte and Beachport.
However, for the Wombats, it was a tough fight against top team Kingston, which saw them narrowly defeated by two sets.
Robe Rebels 18-157 d Robe Roosters 6-103
What a day for the Roosters v Rebels game at Robe.
With a full strength Rebels team it made it tough for the Roosters without their top two men.
Even though the Rebels came away with a convincing win, there were lots of tie breakers and 7-5 matches.
With so many great matches it’s hard to highlight one match.
In the top men’s single, Roosters fill-in, Brad Agnew, delivered Rebel Egan Regnier his first loss of the season in a tiebreak.
It was a similar affair in the top ladies single, with Rooster Leanne Cameron defeating Lisa Hall in another tiebreak.
If two were not enough, two more singles sets were won in tiebreaks.
Lewis Ling, the cup namesake, was unlucky, going down to Rebel Tim Malone, while Rooster Hayley Agnew defeated Rebel Emma Vasek.
Both teams fought hard and there was some really great tennis to watch.
Robe also had their sponsors’ day Christmas windup which saw Andrew Brown in fine form as the big red man! Thanks to everyone for a great day of tennis.
Lucindale Wombats 11-127 lt Kingston 13-127
What an incredible match of tennis with the Lucindale Wombats and Kingston, we all knew it was going to be close especially Kingston being undermanned.
The top three numbers for Kingston in the mixed scored some close wins.
A great game full of rallies was had by number 2s Stephen Edwards and Alex Menz, the pair getting the win 7-5 against Jack Grundy and Andrea Buckett.
Wombats then got on the board winning both the number 4 and 5 mixed doubles.
The men’s singles were three a piece with a great game between number 1s Brad Hocking and Shaun Mules proving close and going the way of Brad 7-5.
It was another good game in the men’s number 3s between Lou Leidig and Adrian Maywald, both using the grass to their advantage with Lou getting the win 6-4.
Kingston took back a decent lead after the women’s singles, winning four out of six.
Hudson Menz’s win over Alicia Orton proving vital for the Kingston team in the end, the young junior winning 7-5 in a tiebreak.
At the start of the doubles Kingston needed two more wins to get the two points.
Kingston’s Bianca Cunneen and Alex Menz had a win over Heidi Ware and Andrea Buckett 9-4 in the top ladies doubles meaning they needed one more win.
Everyone was keeping a close eye on court 6 with a battle going on between number 3 and 4 women.
Heather Pitt and Kate Orton just got there in a marathon game 10-9 (7/5) against Kingston’s Theressa Mules and Nicola Crane.
Kingston still needed one win just as Tim Parker and Kym Lehmann came off sealing the deal for the team winning 9-4 against Toby Longbottom and Vander Maywald.
The end score, which would not happen very much, both teams on 127 games but Kingston won 13 sets to 11.
Three set winners for the teams: Wombats- Mark Buckett and Bronwyn Longbottom, for Kingston- Bianca Cunneen and Kym Lehmann.
Shout out for the amazing afternoon tea put on by the Lucindale teams.
Lucindale Koalas 14-138 d Beachport 10-123
To bring in the final match before the Christmas break the Lucindale Koalas hosted Beachport, which was expected to be a close game.
The Koalas took the upper hand early on taking five of the mixed doubles sets, the number 4s had a close match with Koalas’ Ogilvie and Legoe defeating Beachport’s D Bateman and Chambers 7-5.
Both teams matched up evenly in the singles with both teams taking six singles sets each, with many of the sets tightly contested.
The men’s match of the day was between number 6 men where Koalas’ Stock was defeated by Beachport’s R. Bateman 6-7.
The women’s match of the day was between Koalas’ T Handbury and Beachport’s Watson with Watson winning 6-7, the talk around was that this game was an extremely good match to watch.
The doubles were as evenly contested as the singles with both teams taking home three sets, the bottom men’s doubles was an epic match with Koalas’ Stock and Baker coming from many games down to defeat Beachport’s B Lang and R Bateman 10-8.
The middle women’s doubles went to a tie-break with Koalas’ McCarthy and Legoe being defeated by Beachport’s Corman and Chambers 9-10.
Three game winners for the day were Koalas’ M Baker and M Bilodeau and Beachport’s J Harris. Frances/Lucindale
Eagles 19-147 d Naracoorte 5-89 Frances/Lucindale
Eagles secured a final win heading into the Christmas break over Naracoorte.
The Eagles started strong, claiming all six mixed doubles.
Three of these matches were in close contention with 6-4 results falling to the Eagles.
Fudge/Handbury led the team early with a 6-1 win over S. Malone/P. Moyle-Read.
Naracoorte’s first set of the day came early in the ladies’ singles.
Junior star Alice Redding secured her first seniors singles win, 6-3, over Hayley Crossling.
But the Eagles were just too good, winning eight singles to secure the day early.
Eliza Handbury, a very handy fill-in, took the top ladies single 6-1 over Poppy Moyle-Read.
James Crossling and Max Malone produced a hard-hitting spectacle for onlookers, Crossling winning 6-3.
Finally, Craig Jones, Bob Williams and Angus McTaggart all showed their grass court experience with singles wins.
Although the match was decided, the day was not over.
Naracoorte won a fifth and final set in the Moyle-Read sisters, who won 9-6 over Handbury/Gluyas.
In the last match of the day Fitzgerald/Van Dyk triumphed in front of the crowd on the hill against M. Moyle-Read/G. Koch, 9-6. The ladder as it stands Heading into the break the ladder is tight, with many teams looking for a chance to play in the Division 1 final.
Kingston sits on top of the ladder with seven wins, one game clear of the Frances/Lucindale Eagles on six.
Three teams currently sit on five wins, Lucindale Koalas, Robe Rebels and Beachport respectively, separated only by five sets.
Lucindale Wombats round out the top six with four wins.
While finals spots are unlikely for the Robe Roosters and Penola, Naracoorte, currently in 7th, could be in with a chance if they are able to secure a few wins after the break.
Matches resume on Jan 20 with games at Robe, Lucindale, Beachport and Penola.
