Tennis hit out

Tennis hit out

Anticipation is building for the climax of the 2021/22 Mount Gambier and District Tennis Association season after the final grand final tickets were dished out at Olympic Park on Saturday.

On a perfect autumn afternoon, Olympic Park was buzzing with some special shots and funky outfits.

Despite the joyful scenes, players across all grades did not give an inch in some enthralling battles to keep their seasons alive.

In the fight for Division 1, Reidy Park and West Gambier faced off for the coveted chance to meet Centrals/Uniting in the big dance.

Although Zayne Young’s Reidy Park team had played the more consistent tennis across the season, West Gambier arrived with the momentum.

After Reidy Park won the first three head-to-head battles of the season, there appeared to be a big gap between the second and third seeds.

However, Jo Sealey’s West Gambier outfit found something special at the back end of the summer winning the last two encounters to make the sudden-death final anyone’s guess.

But once game day arrived, Reidy Park’s big guns brought their A Games to stamp their authority on the contest.

The opening rubber between Young and Ethan Schultz was a hard-fought affair with the pair sharing the games evenly before the former emerged victorious 6-4.

His teammates followed in their captain’s footsteps with Cade Kelly, Joel Childs and Sarah Edwards all scooping up comfortable wins to put Reidy Park well on top after the singles.

But West Gambier was not going to be taken lying down.

Jess Stutley had to dig deep and show some resolve to overcome in her battle with Bailey Young before coming out on top by just two games.

Team captain Jo Sealey had an easier time swinging freely to a strong 6-2 win over Jayme Young to keep her team in the game.

These wins gave West Gambier the belief to throw a few punches in the doubles.

The number-one men’s doubles delight was always going to be an engrossing contest and that proved to be the case.

Decked out in Adelaide Crows gear, Schultz was showing some Josh Rachele-style fancy footwork alongside Cook.

At one moment the pair had taken the ascendancy and their smart shorts were getting their Reidy Park rivals increasingly frustrated.

The usually impeccable Zayne Young and Childs were struggling to hit their areas until the momentum swung.

Suddenly things started to fall Reidy Park’s way their leaders prevailed 7-5.

Zayne Young also fell on the right side of a two-game battle alongside Kelly over Schultz and Lang to put their team in a near-unbeatable position.

As each doubles set rolled by, Reidy Park’s charge gathered more steam as Bailey Young, Jayme Young, Edwards, Kelly and Childs all collected wins to seal the deal in comprehensive fashion.

Sealey and Ella Jolley managed to steal a consolation 6-4 victory in the final rubber, but it had little bearing on the bigger picture with Reidy Park completing its journey to the decider in ominous fashion winning nine sets to 
three.

After an ultra-competitive minor-round season, the Division 2 semi-finals were always going to produce some unmissable action.

The heat was on in courts five and six where Glencoe and Mount Schank locked horns.

Having lost last year’s decider, Glencoe was determined for a shot at revenge, but in its way stood a fired up Mount Schank team on the rise from a stunning ascension to finals.

Within 12 months the young team had progressed from seventh to third on the ladder and was keen to make a splash.

But it was coming up against a club it was yet to beat in 2021/22 and a tight tussle unraveled in the singles.

Brendan Mcinnes ensured Mount Schank drew first blood before Glencoe found an immediate response through Sam Auld.

Ruth Thami was also successful for Glencoe, but the likes of Will Boston, Nell Eastough and Bella Laube stepped up to give Mount Schank an important two-game lead heading into the doubles and this is where the underdogs showed their killer instincts to seize the moment.

Being on the back foot, Glencoe needed to win more than half of the remaining rubbers to enter another Division 2 final.

But Mcinnes, Oscar Geddes and Alex Laube cleaned up the first two doubles sets to put Mount Schank on the edge of glory.

Despite the groovy clothes of Sam Hentschke proving fruitful alongside Auld to keep Glencoe’s remote chances alive, a strong 6-2 win to Nell Eastough and Abbey Hood confirmed Mount Schank’s unexpected triumph with two sets still to play.

West Gambier Red had been the team to beat all season and showed why in its semi-final battle with Mount Gambier Blue.

The undefeated team’s men’s brigade were firing at full cylinders with Bryan Haywood, Shaunn Robinson and Henry Haywood playing perfect tennis not dropping a set.

Steph Ward and Elzette Le Roux also had their moments in the sun to put the icing on the cake in the cruisy six-set triumph.

Jayel van den Hurk, Jodie Carey and Taryn Gartner were the only winners in the Mount Gambier Blue camp.

The top two seeds in Division 3 may had progressed into the grand final, but they did not get everything their own way on Saturday.

Reigning premier Mil Lel met Uniting on the northern courts of Olympic Park and they fought a ding-dong battle.

Jason Brooks gave Mil Lel a winning start before Uniting responded immediately through Sergio Cesaro.

This set the tone as both sides battled to break free with a run of strong sets.

But Mil Lel gained the upper hand after Pattrick Robinson, Jorja Douglas and Bronwyn McKinnon overcame their respective opponents.

Uniting continued to scrap through the doubles, but had nothing left after Jorja and Jessica Douglas teamed up to beat Bec Hogg and Jess 
Stewart.

Over at Pinehall Avenue, club relations were put to the test when the Suttontown Tigers and Dons went head to head in their derby for a final.

Neither side was willing to give an inch in the singles with all six sets shared evenly.

This meant the fate of the one grand final spot up for grabs was going to be decided in the doubles and the Tigers found their full voice.

Back-to-back-to-back doubles wins from Steve Dehmel, Kobe Cole, Brody Sharam and Cory Sharam was the killer blow that destroyed the Dons’ dreams of topping its sister team.

Much like during the regular season, the Tigers topped the scoreboard 7-5 to win the derby and extend its campaign into the biggest week of all.

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