THE Robe Rebels have fallen to fourth on the ladder in the Southern Ports Tennis Association after a loss to Beachport on Saturday.
The Rebels, who only moved into second last round, faced tough opposition from the Pirates who put up a strong performance in matches across the day.
Further along the coast, Kingston put in a dominant display over the Roosters.
In other matches, Frances-Lucindale Eagles hosted their first game at Frances against the Koalas.
The home ground advantage came in handy against a formidable Koalas side, assisting in their tight 14-10 win.
Finally, the Wombats were too good for Penola.
ROBE REBELS 9-105 lt BEACHPORT 15-134
Robe hosted Beachport on what was one of the nicer days of tennis along the coast this summer.
With both teams pushing for a top-three position on the ladder, Beachport took the early lead when winning five of the six mixed doubles sets.
Egan Regnier and Andrew Brown proved their strength over Cade Kelly and Todd Watson taking Robe’s first set of the day 6-3.
George Pretlove and Emma Vasek took on Jake Harris and Lucy Corman, but only managed to win three games.
Beachport continued to push ahead through the singles, taking the next eight sets.
Kimberley Austin managed to keep Shae Morrish to four games in their singles, while Barb Hensel and Nat Chambers endured a well battled tiebreaker, with the former securing the win.
The match of the day was positioned perfectly on show court in the top men’s battle between Egan and Jed Regnier and Cade Kelly/Noah Lang.
After an early break, then subsequent break-back, the final score was a 9-4 victory in favour of the Regnier boys.
Three-set winners for the day included Egan Regnier, Tim Loveday, Lucy Corman and Tamara Sutherland.
KINGSTON 17-137 d ROBE ROOSTERS 7-75
A fine day at Kingston without wind was welcomed by the hosts and visiting Robe Roosters on Saturday.
Robe struggled to fill a team, while Kingston had a few keen players after the break so Jacob Mules, Kym Lehmann and Awhi Zwart filled in for the opposing side.
Kingston had the edge in the mixed doubles to start the day off.
Robe took consolation in winning the number two and three doubles.
Paul Rains and Rachelle McKay combined to make a strong team against Steve Edwards and Stacey Lehmann, winning 6-4.
Another close game in Robe’s other mixed doubles win had Peter Obst and Alana Domaschenz defeat Neville Hines and Alex Menz 6-4.
An entertaining game on the side court between father-son duo James and Kym Lehmann was a relatively even match with plenty of slice and spin.
James took the win in the end over his father 6-3.
On centre court there was plenty of hard hitting and skill on display between Matt Menz and Brad Agnew.
At 4-4 Agnew took the last two games to secure the win 6-4.
Alex Menz has not lost a beat after not picking up her racquet for six weeks.
She played some good tennis with a 6-1 win over Robe’s Alana Domaschenz.
A few other close games in the women’s singles saw Stacey Lehmann and Rachelle McKay have a good tussle, with the former winning 6-4.
Abby Mules and Tracey Bainger also had some good rallies with plenty of hard hitting.
Bainger won in the end, also 6-4.
Another 6-4 game between the Katies had Katie Agnew taking the win against Katie Hines.
The other singles matches for men and women were relatively one-sided.
However, despite the eventual 6-2 loss, Paul Rains’ effort against Steve Edwards was a valiant one.
He went down 6-2 in the end, but forced Edwards into many rallies with a play time of over an hour.
Unfortunately Neville Hines sustained a back injury after a couple games into his match with Peter Obst and had to retire.
Kingston finished the day strong and took all five of the played doubles and ended up taking the win 17 sets to seven.
FRANCES-LUCINDALE EAGLES 14-137 d LUCINDALE KOALAS 10-114
Frances served up a fine day for tennis.
There were three players who won all three of their sets, with Eagles’ Hayley Crossling, Bob Williams and Sarah Hinge all unbeatable on the day.
One of the matches of the day unfolded in the number one mixed pairs between Koalas’ Sam Graetz/Michell Baker and Eagles’ Tarrant Fudge/Tyler Aitkinson.
The Eagles’ pair won in a tiebreak.
Another highlight came in the women’s doubles clash between Koalas’ Leanne McCarthy/Claire Garner (Koalas) and Eagles’ Jane Fitzgerald/Mon Vandyk, with the Koalas’ duo eventually winning 10-9.
PENOLA 8-93 lt LUCINDALE WOMBATS 16-136
No report provided
LADDER
After 11 rounds, Kingston sits comfortably at the top of the ladder on 16 points.
They are one game clear of both Frances Lucindale Eagles and Beachport on 14 points.
These two teams are fighting it out for a spot in the Division 1 grand final on March 2.
However, with both teams having a bye leading into the final, this leaves space for both the Robe Rebels and Lucindale Koalas to sneak into second place.
These teams sit fourth and fifth respectively on 12 points.
Rounding out the top six are the Lucindale Wombats sitting on 10 points, but it will be a tough ask for them to move further up the ladder.
They could find themselves in trouble with Naracoorte only sitting two wins behind, with the two facing off this weekend.
All games are played at Lucindale for Round 12 with a 12pm start for all teams.
