IT was a battle for grand final berths last Friday, as the Mount Gambier and District Tennis Association preliminary finals were held at Olympic Park.
In the A1 competition, Reidy Park claimed a solid victory over Mount Gambier to earn its place in the big game against Glencoe this Saturday.
Meanwhile, a closer match-up in A2 saw Mount Schank secure a grand final berth over West Gambier Red in a narrow two-set win.
After finishing second on the premiership ladder, Mount Gambier’s B1 side also missed out on a place in the final, as it went down to fourth-place finisher Suttontown Tigers.
A1
Reidy Park 12-74 d Mount Gambier 4-46
IT was a matter of bad luck for Mount Gambier’s A1 side when it suffered a convincing eight-set defeat to Reidy Park in the final hurdle to the big game.
Forced to forfeit four of its games due to player unavailability, this was the deciding factor in the end result.
Mount Gambier’s top men were off to a flying start, as Andrew Van Den Hurk and Tom Madigan both claimed 6-0 victories in their games.
They defeated Reidy’s Ky Edwards and Jordan Tucker respectively.
However, in the bottom order men’s singles it was Reidy’s Matthew Stark and Stephen Young who reaped the rewards.
Stark accounted for Hayden Hancock with a 6-4 result, while Young finished with a 6-3 win over Jamie Clarke.
Reidy also held the advantage in the women’s singles, as Bailey Young defeated the experienced Heidi Heemskerk 7-6 and Emily Edwards claimed a solid 6-0 victory over Jodie Carey.
With Mount Gambier forfeiting the remaining two women’s singles games, Reidy held the upper hand going into the doubles matches.
Both women’s games were forfeited by Mount Gambier and Reidy added the sets to their tally, with the Mount Gambier men unable to win it for their team from there.
Van Den Hurk and Madigan won their match easily in two 6-0 sets, while the Stark and Stephen Young combination proved once again too strong for Hancock and Clarke, leaving Reidy as the clear winner at the end of the night.
A2
Mount Schank 9-74 d West Gambier Red 7-72
THE closest preliminary final on Friday saw Mount Schank with a two-set victory over West Gambier Red, as the second-place finisher earned its place alongside Glencoe Maroon in this week’s premiership decider.
West held the advantage in the men’s singles, winning three of the four games, but Mount Schank levelled the set count through its women, leaving it up to the doubles matches to decide the clash.
For the men, Brady Cook, Zayne Young and Simon Gallasch led the way for West, winning their games against Andrew Hughes, Will Seidel and Bobby Laabadan respectively.
John Ralston was the only winner for Mount Schank, as he defeated Jackson Cook with a score of 6-1.
The women’s games saw West’s Elzette Roux the only victor, with a 6-4 win over Clair Waye in the top-order singles.
For Mount Schank, Sophie Boston, Kaitlyn Nisbet and Cody Hood claimed the wins in each of their singles matches.
They defeated Maggie Finnigan, Renae Norman and Emily Jolley respectively.
The doubles matches saw some close contests, but in the end Mount Schank was able to win five of the eight games to take out the overall honours along with a place in this Saturday’s grand final.
B1
Mount Gambier 4-45 l/t Suttontown Tigers 8-64
AFTER concluding the minor season in fourth place, Suttontown Tigers has now earned a grand final berth against Moorak Green.
Defeating West Gambier in the elimination final by just three games, last Friday saw the Tigers claw their way to a four-set win over Mount Gambier to seal their place in the big game.
The singles games saw a mix of results, as both sides won three of the six games each to level the set count.
In the top-order men’s singles, Mount Gambier’s Daryl Ferguson showed his grit as he defeated Tom Inglis in a tiebreak 7-6, while teammate Jim Lopriore also added a win to the tally, accounting for Suttontown’s Cory Sharam 6-2.
Christian McCombe was the only victor for the Tigers, with his 6-1 win over Leighton Hancock keeping his team on track.
For the women, Suttontown’s Casey Sampson and Agnes Doyle defeated Melissa Attiwill and Kate Eldridge 6-4 and 6-0 respectively, while Mount Gambier young-gun Lucy Clarke claimed a 6-3 victory over Molly Lennon.
Despite the singles sets level for both teams, it was in the doubles games where Suttontown hit hard.
The Tigers won five of the six games to run away with the match and earn its place in the grand final.
