Grand finals await for the winners of this week’s finals matches, as the Junior Saturday season entered its penultimate round.
The three six-team sections played their semi-finals, while all eight team grades were in preliminary final mode.
Section 1 Boys went as expected with Geelong Lawn White and Green, clear leaders at the end of home and away, recording 4-2 and 5-1 wins over Wandana Heights Blue and White respectively.
Things were a little one sided in three of the Boys sections with Waurn Ponds defeating minor premiers Grovedale in Section 5, Geelong Lawn over Surfcoast Torquay in Section 8 and Leopold over Drysdale Brown in Section 9, all five sets to one.
Sections 3 and 4 saw third-placed Barwon Heads and All Saints get over the top of Lara and Surfcoast, though with only one point separating each of the teams in both sections at the end of home and away, the matches were expected to be close.
Max Creati for Barwon Heads and AJ Williams for All Saints played big parts for their teams winning both their sets.
Section 2 Boys saw an upset with Ocean Grove Blue winning through, three sets all with a five-game advantage over Geelong Lawn. This was the team’s first win at three attempts, helped by Timothe Garnier winning his two sets for the morning.
Section 6 and 7 were matches of good wins and close losses for Highton and Geelong Lawn White respectively. Nate Ashley and Alfie Oliver both posted comfortable wins in the singles and backed it up in the doubles to help their teams over the line defeating Surfcoast Torquay and Geelong Lawn Blue respectively.
In the girls matches, minor premiers Geelong Lawn, after going down in a close one last week, bounced back to take a 5-1 win over Hamlyn Park in Section 4, Wandana Heights White posted the same result against Highton in Section 1, Centre Court against Leopold in Section 5 as did Waurn Ponds against Geelong Lawn Green in Green Ball 1.
Section 2 Girls was a close one with Surfcoast Torquay taking the lead three sets to one after the singles, but with two of these sets being in tie-breaks were only two games ahead of Highton. Highton, who had Amelia Vesty roll her ankle during the week ruling her out, showed the depth of their team taking the doubles 6-1, 6-1 to beat the minor premiers three sets all and by eight games, with Lina Johansson winning her two sets for the morning.
Section 5 Girls played their semis this week with minor premiers Highton taking a 5-1 win over Surfcoast, but Grovedale got over the more favoured Teesdale in the second semi setting up the win with three singles sets, then Pia Miller teaming with Ruby Duncan to win her second set and the team’s fourth to take them into next week.
The only 6-0 win for the week was posted by Bannockburn in Green Ball 2, over underdogs Wandana Heights. Banno remains unbeaten in this section and will face Grovedale next week, which narrowly scraped through against Highton in the second semi.
Tied at two sets all and separated by only one game after the singles, the doubles were split with Grovedale coming out in front by just two games, the closest margin for the week.
