It was a cold and wet week for round 10 of Tennis Geelong’s Saturday Juniors, but most matches were still able to be completed, despite the conditions.
The race to the finals in Section 8 Boys became more interesting this week with a number of upsets at the top of the table.
Top team Lara was due to face eighth placed Wandana Heights, but the courts at Wandana were unplayable and the match was abandoned.
Geelong Lawn, only behind Lara on percentage, travelled to play sixth placed Grovedale.
With the 8am start, the match started on time with the final match completed as the rain started to fall.
Both teams were well matched in the doubles with Gautam Shrivastava and Nate Schoenmaekers winning the first for Grovedale in a tie breaker, while Geelong Lawn’s Jack Nancarrow and Oliver Chudoschnik took the second 6-4.
Grovedale’s Shrivastava and Schoenmaekers continued their winning way taking their singles 6-3 and 6-1 respectively, as did Nancarrow for Geelong Lawn with a 6-2 win, leaving the result pending on the final set.
In a lengthy set, with rain starting to fall, Sam Sharp won through for Grovedale in a tie break, giving them the win, and bringing them four points closer to second, leaving them 10 points behind Geelong Lawn, but still four points out of the four.
Third placed Highton travelled to Bannockburn this week, but with a player short, they had a battle on their hands to maintain their position.
Bannockburn took the first and third singles with Lachie Punton and Kaelan Burns winning 6-2 and 6-3 respectively, while Liam Guilfoyle took the second 6-2 for Highton.
The doubles went to Highton 6-4 with Guilfoyle teaming with Mason Brand to give their team a second set, and two points for the day, while Bannockburn stayed in fourth position, but now only six points from second, and a potential double chance come finals time.
The final match saw fourth placed Surfcoast Torquay host Centre Court.
Torquay was too strong in the singles taking three of the four sets, while the doubles went one each way, giving Torquay the win keeping them in fourth but also drawing it to within five points of second, which could be all important with its next match scheduled against Highton.
