LOCAL TENNIS Donna Schoenmaekers
Midweek ladies’ tennis made a surprise return in Geelong on Tuesday following the sudden easing of lockdown across regional Victoria.
Despite initially believing round 5 would be cancelled, most teams were raring to go.
All matches went ahead in Section 4 with just two points separating second and eighth on the ladder going into the round.
Portarlington cemented themselves on top of the ladder with a 5-1 win over Point Lonsdale.
The Point Lonsdale ladies took it to last season’s finalists with only one service break the difference in four of the sets, and just a 10-game difference at the end of the day.
They will be keen for a rematch in round 12 to see if they can reverse their luck.
Club rivals Surfcoast Yellow Torquay and Surfcoast Jan Juc faced off at Spring Creek Reserve, where Torquay proved too strong with a 6-0 win to move to second on the ladder.
Jan Juc started well, but went down in the first two sets 4-6, 6-7.
From there Torquay took control winning the final four sets comfortably to boost their percentage with a 20-game lead.
Ocean Grove were one point ahead of home team Highton going into Tuesday’s match.
But that changed after Highton scored a 4-2 win.
Jacqui Duxson was the standout for Highton taking her three sets, while Maureen Stanic claimed two for Ocean Grove.
Aireys Inlet pushed themselves into fourth with a 4-2 win over Surfcoast Black Torquay.
The match was close for most of the day with Surfcoast taking the first set 6-4, but Aireys countering in the second 7-5.
Aireys pulled ahead 3-1 with wins in the third and fourth 6-2, 6-4, but Surfcoast rallied to take the set 7-5.
Aireys sealed the victory with a 6-0 win in the final set to give them a 10-game lead. Kelly Turner was the standout for Aireys Inlet taking her three sets for the day.
Section 7 was a mixed bag with two of the four matches going ahead.
Barwon Heads took full advantage of the day’s play with a 5-1 win over Hamlyn Park, which pushed them into top spot.
Grovedale also moved themselves into the top four with a two-game advantage following a tight three-sets all battle.
With the results all tallied, Section 7 is still very close with Portarlington leading on 30 points, followed by Surfcoast Yellow Torquay on 22.
Highton is ahead of Aireys Inlet on percentage with both teams on 21, then outside the four are Ocean Grove (18), Surfcoast Black Torquay (17), Point Lonsdale (16) and Surfcoast Blue Jan Juc (15).
