TYPICAL October blustery conditions greeted players in Round 2 of the Southern Ports Tennis Association, with most matches one-sided affairs.
Robe, Frances/Naracoorte and the Lucindale Roos have showed early in the season they will be tough contenders.
The match of the round was played out between home side Millicent/Beachport and Lucindale Cockatoos.
The drought was broken for the Millicent/Beachport team with a win in a tight contest against the Lucindale Cockatoos.
The Millicent/Beachport side had not won a game since its victorious grand final in season 2018/2019, so would hope to remain on the winners list going forward.
The day started early so both teams could enjoy celebrations of the AFL grand final which meant the normal order of the day was not the case.
Bob Williams and Nick Clifford had a great tussle throughout the day while Michelle Pulmer and Bron Longbottom had some lengthy doubles matches.
Darcy Bateman and Mark Bucket got their money’s worth with a 7-5 single, 10-8 men’s double and a cracker 7-5 mixed.
Bucket and Lucy Handbury were in form early to be up 5-2 while Bateman and Jacob Lang hung in there to come back and win the match 7-5.
Both teams were eagerly watching on as this was the deciding match of the day and was a great spectacle to watch.
Millicent/Beachport won the day 13 sets 125 games to 11-118 games.
Three-set winners for the day were Jake Harris, Tim Loveday, Benjamin Lang and Robbie Bateman for Millicent/Beachport, while Williams and Kiele Longbottom won three for the Cockatoos.
The new Frances/Naracoorte team ventured west to Kingston.
The home side showed its experience early winning the top three sets in the mixed doubles but the bottom three Frances/Naracoorte teams evened the score with wins in their doubles.
Singles started with a great game between Frances/Naracoorte’s Tarrant Fudge and Kingston’s Tim Parker, with Fudge winning 6-1.
In the top women’s singles Kingston’s Richard Martin won 7- 5 in a tight game over Tyler Atkinson.
The Frances/Naracoorte bottom team players proved the difference on the day with Sid Malone, George Malone, Richard Pilmore, Flo Bergwin and Kimberley Langley winning all 3 sets.
For Kingston, Joshua Trothe was a clear winner, claiming his three sets and was well supported by Richard Martin with two sets.
Final results saw Frances/Naracoorte win 16 sets to eight – 135 games to 95.
The Lucindale Koala’s took on Lucindale Roos with some good tennis played considering the strong winds.
The Koalas got the early lead with four of the six mixed doubles matches.
The Roos men helped give their team the upper hand to come home with all six singles wins.
The top men’s singles lived up to expectations with Anthony McCarthy beating Tim Durick 7-5 in a great match of tennis.
The number two men’s game followed suit with Tom McKinnon defeating Adrian Maywald 7-5.
The number two women had a long game with Kate Green def Brittany Voss 7-5.
The three-match winners for Roos on the day were, Davey Sherwin, Henry Tregoweth and Taylor Ferguson.
Caitlin Baker was the Koalas’ only three-game winner.
Lucindale Roos won the match 16-139 to 8-108.
The final match of the round was played at Robe against the Lucindale Wombats, with a big southerly for the first home game of the season.
Robe was off to a solid start taking all the mixed doubles and only dropping five sets for the rest of the day.
Heather Pitt took a fall during her mixed double and forfeited her singles to ensure her knee was good enough for the doubles.
Robe won the day 19 sets to five – 150 games to 93.
Naracoorte had the bye this week.
Ladder: Robe Rebels 4; Lucindale Roo’s 4; Naracoorte 2; Frances/Naracoorte 2; Millicent/Beachport 2; Kingston 2; Lucindale Koalas 0; Lucindale Wombats 0; Lucindale Cockatoos 0.
Round 3 draw
Frances/Naracoorte v Lucindale Koala’s at Naracoorte Tennis Club.
Lucindale Roos v Robe at Lucindale Country Club.
Lucindale Cockatoos v Kingston at Lucindale Country Club.
Naracoorte v Lucindale Wombats at Naracoorte.
Millicent/Beachport – Bye.
