With Saturday Summer Pennant now complete, focus within Tennis Geelong turns to night competitions and Tuesday Women’s where, at Round 9, teams are starting to position themselves for finals and this couldn’t be more obvious than in Section 1.
Last week saw six of the seven teams change ladder position at the halfway mark of the season, with only 12 points between first and sixth there is plenty for all teams to play for.
It was a week for the away teams, with none of the three home teams managing to take advantage of their home courts while Ocean Grove had the bye.
Surfcoast Torquay levelled the points tally with Barwon Heads last week but put themselves into first on percentage with a 4-2 win over Winchelsea. Torquay produced a strong win over Moriac this week, spearheaded by Jayne Steel winning her three sets, so they keep top spot for at least another week.
Barwon Heads didn’t lose any ground in second with their win, accounting for Grovedale 5-1. The teams started with a 6-0 win each, but from there things tightened with the final two sets decided 7-5, 7-6, the Heads Kahlee Rennes and Kellie Burbridge winning three sets for the day.
Geelong Lawn pushed themselves from sixth to fourth this week, overcoming Winchelsea four sets to two. The match opened with Anna McGennisken and Allison Blake taking the first set for Winch 6-4 while Jacqui McGrath and Jill Pavia had a more convincing win 6-0. Lawn won the third and fourth sets 6-4, and McGrath teaming with Karen Best in the sixth won her third set for the day to clinch the win.
Next week will see Barwon Heads with the bye, Geelong Lawn have a good chance to move further up the ladder when they face seventh placed Ocean Grove, and Grovedale, only two points ahead of them, play ladder leaders Surfcoast Torquay.
A strong win to either Moriac or Winchelsea in their tie could see them also decrease the margin on third, currently sitting three and five points behind respectively. There is still plenty of time for all teams to get themselves into the four, but every match will be crucial to give themselves the best chance of making it.
