LOCAL TENNIS with Donna Schoenmaekers
There were plenty of moves in Thursday Triples Section 1 ladder after round 3, as the teams are starting to hit their stride, and some clean balls.
Moolap have three teams in the section this season – Two Phones Chol are leading the charge hoping to defend their title, Zing Kings have been promoted after claiming the Section 2 premiership last season and the new combination Muchacho’s, a mix of new and previous players.
Two Phones Chol are still proving to be the team to beat, sitting comfortably atop the ladder.
The long standing partnerships in the team showed through against new team Grovedale Tigers, with Connor Chivell and Lachy Edgar taking the first doubles 6-2, Chivell and Sophie De Wit the second 6-1, then Edgar and De Wit finished taking the third 6-3. De Wit and Edgar also won through in their singles to make it three sets for the night and Grovedale’s only success was in the final singles with Hayden Fell winning 6-0.
Muchacho’s came up against counterparts Zing Kings, and while the final score of 5-1 makes the match look one-sided, the scoreline could have been quite different with only a few points.
Kyle Beattie and Joshua Simic had a long night with all three of their sets decided in tie-breaks. Beattie took the win for Muchacho’s in their singles, while Simic countered for the Kings with Jackson Maddison in the second doubles, before Beattie teamed with Riley Kotwic to come out in front on the sets score at the end of the night.
Kotwic had the best night for the team winning his singles 6-2 and first doubles with Callum Davey 6-1, while Davey won his singles 6-0. The win has moved Muchacho’s into second but with a tough run in the next few weeks.
The final match of the round was the closest, with Triple J’s getting over the line by just five games to Western Heights Uniting. The home team started well with Jack Tolley and Jack Kavenagh winning the first doubles 6-3 and Jay Tee the singles 6-0.
The Heights levelled the sets score in the second with Jeff and Dan Smith coming through 6-4 in the doubles and Andrew Ryan 6-3 in the singles. The final result was in doubt until both sets finished as Ryan and Dan Smith took the doubles in a tie-break, but with Kavenagh having a solid win in the singles 6-4, the J’s had done enough to secure the win.
