While it is the final round of home and away matches in Tuesday Women’s, it is the halfway mark in Monday Night Women’s and players have enjoyed the conditions over the last few weeks with almost ideal weather.
While Section 2’s Racquette’s had the bye this week, the match-ups were Western Warriors in first against The Long Shots in fifth, and second placed Moolap Matriarchs against third placed Highton. Warriors have been strong all season without dropping a match, and they continued their winning run four sets to love.
The Matriarch’s and Highton were level on points with the former ahead only on percentage going into their match. The teams split the first two sets with Sara Chol and Ashleigh Merchant winning the first 8-5 for Highton while Moolap’s Belinda Atkins and Monica Cavarsan gave them the lead with an 8-1 win.
Chol won her second set with Sarah Laird 8-3, but Cavarsan also won her second set for Moolap with Sheree Holdsworth, and with the result at 8-5, the Matriarch’s finished two games ahead.
Section 1 saw Highton’s Smash Hits travel to Lara, and seemed to enjoy the outing. The team started well with Emily Sullivan and Katie Nalesnyik winning the first 8-2 while Claire Mullen and Ann-Marie MCCaskill the second 8-3. Lara rallied in the remaining sets and while they went down in the fourth 8-5, Wendy Caddy and Kristy Woodcock got over the line in tie-break, putting the team on the board, but the Hits took the match three sets to one.
The final match of the night was first vs second with Rust-eze and Grape Therapy, and as with many of their match ups over the last few seasons, rallies were hard fought, games were long, and the final result was close.
Therapy’s Jo Puckett and Fiona Walker matched up against Mel McClelland and Denise Airey in the first set, with hard hitting and sharp volleys punctuating the match.
The final result was 8-1 to Therapy, but the score did not reflect the quality of the match. Narelle Thompson and Emma Nixon helped Rust-eze on the scoreboard with their win in the second. The teams went game for game until three all, when Eze reeled off four games in a row before taking the set 8-5.
Serving and deep ground strokes were a highlight of the third set, with Puckett and Donna Schoenmaekers winning through 8-3. Airey and Nixon for Rust-eze displayed great control and placement winning the final set 8-4, but it wasn’t enough to bridge the gap, with Grape Therapy taking the win by four games.
The win leaves Grape Therapy on top, but Smash Hits and Rust-eze continue to see-saw in second and third with only one point between them.
