James Murphy
MOUNT Gambier and District tennis enters its post season this weekend with plenty on the line as teams contest the semi finals.
Last week the heat policy came into play for the last minor round and in the Division 1 competition that potentially altered the top four.
Only three points separated fourth-placed Mount Gambier and Glencoe in fifth.
Glencoe was scheduled to play wooden-spooner Mount Schank in the final round, while Gambier had a tough fixture against the ladder-leading Uniting.
That held the potential to swap the two sides and hand Glencoe a last-minute finals berth, but it was not to be.
The round was abandoned due to the extreme heat and the ladder order remained as it was.
Now Gambier faces Uniting in the first semi final, which will be a tough ask against the top team.
Uniting has only lost one match this season and that came to second-placed West Gambier way back in Round 3.
Since then they have been untouchable and will be the hot favourite to progress into the grand final.
The second semi-final will have West go head-to-head with Reidy Park in a battle between second and third.
The two teams have also impressed this year and have met twice, the first won by West eight sets to four and the most recent going Reidy’s way by the same margin.
This could be a close contest and there is no shortage of talent in both teams.
In the Division 2 competition the top three were all quite close in the minor rounds.
Suttontown/Glencoe Tigers finished on top of the pack with nine wins from 12 games, while West Gambier Blue and Red finished second and third respectively both with six wins.
The two West sides now meet in the second semi final and it will be the ultimate in-house test of skill.
Played at Malseed Park the sides will enjoy the comforts of their home courts and based off their previous meetings the day could go either way.
Both have tasted success at the other’s expense this season, with Blue besting their Red rivals early in the season 9-3, before Red had the best of their Round 13 encounter with a 9-3 win.
Red may hold the advantage based on that more recent outing, but a quality afternoon of tennis can be expected from both teams regardless of the result.
The first semi final will have Suttontown/Glencoe meet Mil Lel/Reidy Park at Olympic Park.
Mil Lel/Reidy finished fourth in the five-team competition with three wins from its 12 outings.
Despite this their Round 11 match against Suttontown/Glencoe was a close affair, with the latter prevailing by just two sets.
An upset is never off the cards when it comes to finals, but Suttontown/Glencoe will be the heavy favourite going into the weekend.
Division 3 had a clear frontrunner in the home-and-away season.
Mount Gambier lost only one of its 13 matches to finish on top and now it faces fourth-placed Glencoe in the second semi final.
Glencoe had only five wins for the season from 14 games.
However, in Round 15 the team had a nail-biting loss to Gambier, which came down to game count after both sides won six sets each.
Even then it came down to just two games and Glencoe will hope to draw on that same form to push for a grand final berth.
Gambier will be out to prevent an upset and will leave it all on the court in search for a place in the big dance.
The first semi final will be played between Centrals and Uniting/Glencoe.
The duo finished second and third with eight and seven wins respectively.
Last time they met each other was in Round 13 and the combined team prevailed eight sets to four.
Back in Round 1 it was Centrals who finished on top 7-5 so by all accounts a close contest could unfold.
It will be a matter of which team can settle the finals nerves first and focus on the task at hand.
All matches will be played at the usual senior starting time of 1pm.
SENIOR SEMI-FINAL SCHEDULE
Division 1: Uniting v Mount Gambier (Olympic Park); West Gambier v Reidy Park (Mount Gambier Tennis Club).
Division 2: Suttontown/Glencoe Tigers v Mil Lel/Reidy Park (Olympic Park); West Gambier Blue v West Gambier Red (Malseed Park).
Division 3: Mount Gambier v Glencoe (Olympic Park); Centrals v Uniting/Glencoe (Mount Gambier Tennis Club).
