FRANCES-LUCINDALE EAGLES 16-140 d NARACOORTE 8-86
Naracoorte hosted Frances-Lucindale in a battle for top spot under lights on Friday night.
The Eagles claimed the lead early with convincing wins in the mixed doubles and won four sets either 6-0 or 6-1.
Naracoorte claimed only one win in the mixed doubles as Kelsie Moyle-Read and Max Malone claimed a win on tiebreak.
However, Frances-Lucindale kept its foot on the throttle as it won four more sets 6-0 in the singles and victory was in the Eagles’ sights.
Naracoorte turned to the Moyle-Read family, who won all three of their sets which sparked a fightback from the rest of the side.
Additional sets from Malone, Steve Biggins, Logan Smith and Lucy Midwinter meant Naracoorte trailed by just two sets headed into the doubles.
Naracoorte burst out of the box and took the lead into multiple doubles clashes.
However, after a 15-minute rain delay, the Eagles turned it around and won the final sets needed to secure top spot on the ladder to end the regular season on a high.
Mark Woods, James Crossling, Bob Williams, Flo Bergwin and Mon Van Dyk all won three sets for the Eagles, while Kelsie Moyle-Read won three sets for Naracoorte.
LUCINDALE KOALAS 24-163 d PENOLA 0-40
The Lucindale Koalas flexed their strength with a emphatic win over Penola on Saturday.
The Koalas were strong across the board and made Penola work hard for the games it won.
An exciting contest took place between Kylie Ware and Caroline McGrath.
McGrath fought desperately hard to try and claim a set for Penola, but Ware was too strong and claimed the set 6-4.
Kirsty Bailey also put up a strong fight for Penola but suffered a 7-5 defeat to Amelia Wood.
KINGSTON 16-139 d ROBE ROOSTERS 8-96
Kingston made the trip to Robe and took on the Roosters in windy conditions.
The visitors came out of the gates strongly and won five of the mixed doubles sets to build an early lead.
Kingston’s dominance continued into the men’s singles as it won five sets to further extend its comprehensive lead.
Shaun Mules had a long, tough match against Peter Obst but pushed through to claim a 7-5 win.
In an hour-long contest, Lisa Hall claimed a 7-5 win over Alex Menz in an enthralling encounter.
Kingston ultimately proved too good for the Rooster and showed its class as it ran out 16-8 victors.
ROBE REBELS 13-117 d LUCINDALE WOMBATS 11-115
The Rebels took the early lead with wins in four of the six mixed doubles clashes.
Robe’s Jed Regnier and Andrew Brown had a convincing win over Chandler Smart and Brittany Voss.
While Robe’s number two pairing, George Pretlove and Kimberley Austin, won in a close tiebreaker against Adrian Maywald and Toby Longbottom.
With the Wombats winning five of the men’s singles, it brought the scores back to a level playing field.
The Robe women won four of the singles clashes with Michelle Smith the standout with a convincing win over Alexandra King.
With the contest still in the balance at the end of the singles, it all came down to the doubles, where the Rebels shone through to win the fixture by two sets.
BEACHPORT 14-134 d LUCINDALE COCKATOOS 10-113
The day started evenly with the top three mixed doubles clashes going the way of the Cockatoos before Beachport claimed the bottom three to level the scores.
Beachport began to stretch out a lead through the singles clashes, which finished nine sets to three.
Despite taking out the top order mixed doubles 7-5, Matt Waugh and Sally Schultz fell short to Noah Lang and Allanah Mueller 6-0 and 7-6 respectively, while Jack Harris’s highly anticipated return to the side was interrupted by Jack Grundy who claimed a 6-2 win.
Emily Watson led the charge for for Beachport alongside Maddie Redman as they were the only players to claim three wins, while Andy Buckett and Clare Garner were three-set winners for Lucindale.
This weekend will see the grand finals contested, with the Frances-Lucindale Eagles taking on the Lucindale Koalas in the Division 1 grand final.
The Eagles have looked unstoppable in the run home to the final abd have only dropped 25 sets in the last five matches.
However, the grass-court specialists on the Koalas side could give Lucindale a chance of pulling off an upset.
The fixture between Mark Woods and Sam Graetz is the set to watch in this grand final, with a thrilling contest expected.
In Division 2, Kingston will take on Naracoorte.
Naracoorte will be determined to take home the Division 2 silverware after it seemed odds on to make the main grand final but fell out of the top two in the final round.
When these two teams last met, Naracoorte won 14 sets to 10.
However, Kingston’s men could prove challenging, with Matt Menz, Shaun Mules and Lou Ledig leading the charge, Naracoorte will be looking to score sets in the mixed doubles and the women’s singles.
The Division 3 grand final sees the Lucindale Wombats locking horns with Beachport.
The Wombats will be difficult to beat on the lawn but after an up-and-down season, if Beachport fields its strongest side then it will be in with a chance.
Play starts at 12:30pm with the Division 2 and 3 mixed doubles.
From 1pm, the Division 1 spectacle will be underway on the centre courts.
