Three Sections of Tennis Geelong Triples grand finals were played on Thursday April 30.
Section 1 and 2 featured teams that won their third straight premiership, while Section 3’s winner was a first-time premiership team after numerous seasons of participation.
The Section 1 grand final was played at Moolap between the home side’s Two Phones Chol against Grovedale.
The teams had split the season series, but neither team had their full squad in either match. Moolap’s strength was going to be their consistency, where the Grovedale side would look to be aggressive.
Moolap’s Shaun Grigg and Lachy Edgar took the early lead with a 6-2 win over Tim Morrison and Mike Yodgee.
Grovedale’s Tyler Krumholz won the singles in a tiebreaker over a hampered Callum Davey, who was incredibly tracking down shots despite a recent broken ankle.
The best two sets of the evening were the number two doubles and singles sets.
Grovedale’s Morrison and Krumholz took a quick 3-0 lead in the doubles, but as the light faded and the match moved under the lights, Grigg and Davey’s consistency took the fore, and they battled back to win 6-4.
The singles between Grovedale’s Jacob Dingli and Moolap’s Edgar featured a war of attrition with exhausting extended rallies. Dingli held on for a 6-4 win, putting the match on even in terms of sets.
However, Moolap was far too strong to close, with Grigg’s athleticism from a former AFL career featuring in a 6-0 win over Morrison and Edgar and Davey winning a 6-2 battle over Dingli and Yodgee.
The Section 2 final was a rematch of the previous season, with the young All Saints team playing at home against two-time defending premiers, The Winks Wizards.
The teams split the one doubles and three singles, with All Saints’ Elaine Ly taking a tiebreaker over Kien Wong, where the Wizards’ Brett Salajan and Boon Kweh took a 6-4 win over Riley Warren and Zane Garbellini.
The Wizards started to show their premiership quality in the next two sets, with Salajan winning a 6-3 set over Garbellini and the doubles going their way as well with another 6-3 margin.
All Saints won another singles with Warren taking the number singles over Kweh 6-3, but the Wizards strength in doubles shone in a 6-1 win to clinch their third straight premiership.
“The two teams have had some great nights of tennis with results alternating between both sides, but we had been lucky enough to come out ahead on this evening – well done to both teams,” injured Wizards team captain Rohan White said.
Table 29 Tennis Association and Highton’s Out of Towners finished third and fourth on the ladder, but both pulled semi-final upsets to face off in the grand final.
The teams split 6-2 sets to start with Highton’s Corey Hird and Allan Nicdao winning in doubles, and Table 29’s Tony Garyfallou winning in singles.
The number two doubles and singles sets were also split, with Table 29 again winning the singles with a 6-4 win by Phil Houghton, and Highton’s Hird and Guillermo Andy winning 6-3.
Table 29 finished strong with number one singles player Thomas Crosbie taking a 6-1 win, and Houghton and Austin Knowles sealing the team result with a 6-4 triumph for the team’s first premiership.
