WHILE the sun came out for Round 7 of Southern Ports tennis, the wind ensured skills were put to the test, especially at Robe.
The round proved to be a one-sided affair across all venues, even the match of the round which saw a 19 sets to 5 win to the Lucindale Koalas.
With the top four teams securing easy wins, there has been no movement on the ladder but the competition is heating up between the Lucindale Wombats, Lucindale Koalas and Millicent/Beachport who are sitting in second, third and fourth behind the powerhouse Naracoorte.
The match between the two number 1 women from Naracoorte and Kingston Crays – Poppy Moyle-Read and Bianca Cunneen – went down to the wire, with the former taking the win 8-6 in a tie-breaker.
Likewise the number 1 men at Furner between Jake Harris and Anthony McCarthy also provided plenty of entertainment, with lengthy rallies from the base lines and McCarthy winning in a tie-breaker.
The Lucindale Wombats headed to the seaside to face the Robe Rebels, with the wind was a huge factor for both teams.
The home side was missing top woman Tori Gluyas, but jumped right out of the blocks to win three of the first four mixed doubles but the Wombats steadied to even the score in the last two mixed doubles matches.
However, the singles were a bit of a one-sided affair as the Wombats showed why they sit in second spot on the ladder, winning 11 of the 12 singles.
Nicole Hocking staged a come-back to get the win 7-5 over Sarah Laurie in a long battle.
The doubles were much closer, proving a different skill set and mind set is required in this format of the game.
The Wombats were too strong with an 18-6 victory.
The Lucindale Koalas claimed a solid 19-5 win over the Kingston Dolphins at Kingston.
The Koalas came out of the blocks well, winning five of the six mixed doubles.
Stephen Edwards and Theresa Mules were the only winners in the mixed for Kingston but their luck changed in the singles, both going down.
The best match of the singles was played between Shaun Mules and Tim Durik, where they fought it out a tie-breaker and Durik was successful.
In the men’s and ladies’ doubles, Kingston was only able to get the one win, where Jorja Mules was able to get her first win of the day pairing up with Laura Baker.
James Buckett played his first game for Southern Ports and recorded a win, dropping just five games for the day, while Jock McKay won all his matches convincingly, only dropping seven games.
Lucindale cockatoos joined Millicent/Beachport at Furner.
The Cockatoos were missing a few players and could not get another win on the board with Millicent/Beachport 18-6 victors.
Millicent got the first jump winning four of the six mixed doubles and then took control of the day after the singles.
Match of the day was the top men’s single with Jake Harris going down to Coackatoos’ Anthony McCarthy in a tie breaker.
Naracoorte and Kingston Crays provided another great day at the seaside.
The mixed doubles produced two tiebreaks, one for each team.
In the singles, the Naracoorte women continued their winning streak, securing all six matches.
The men’s singles saw a tough battle between Mitchell Pinkerton and Daniel Menzel, which Pinkerton secured in a tie-break.
An untouchable George White also broke his curse to defeat cousin Matt Menz, 6-4.
However, match of the day was a hard hitting tussle between Bianca Cunneen and Poppy Moyle-Read.
Cunneen secured an early break to go up 3-1 but Moyle-Read to bring the game back to square.
Moyle-Read took an early lead in the tie-break, blitzing to 5-2.
Cunneen hit her way back to 6-6 but after the change of ends, it was Moyle-Read who was able to break serve to win the match 7-6 (8-6).
In the end Naracoorte claimed a comfortable 19-5 victory.
The Eagles had a convincing win over the Roosters.
Top performances on the day were Roosters’ Leanne Cameron and Kimberly Austin, along with Eagles’ Flo Burgwin, Sarah Hinge, Sophie Ford, Peter Lawrie, Bob Williams and Angus McTaggart.
Round 8 draw: Lucindale Koalas v Millicent/Beachport at Lucindale (12:30pm start); Lucindale Cockatoos v Robe Rebels at Lucindale (12:30pm start); Frances/Lucindale Eagles v Kingston Crays at Lucindale (12:30pm start); Lucindale Wombats v Robe Roosters at Lucindale (12:30pm start); Naracoorte v Kingston Dolphins at Naracoorte.
