It was part two for Tennis Geelong’s Junior Pennant this week, with the six sections that couldn’t finish getting the chance to complete their matches.
Barwon Heads won the doubles in Premier Boys last week before the weather changed and restarted with Paddy Moulton down 4-1 against Hamlyn Park’s Xavier Willoughby and Dex Taylor 2-all with Axel Potter-Ayres.
Moulton started better this week but was unable to pull back the deficit, losing the first 6-4 before Willoughby closed out the match winning the second set 6-3. Taylor and Potter-Ayres played game for game in a tight battle with Taylor the eventual winner 7-5, 7-6 with the rubber giving Barwon Heads the title.
Grovedale’s Hanna Schoenmaekers and Annabel King resumed at 6-2 against Geelong Lawn Green’s Lily Stewart and Saskia Harendaz in Premier Girls, but the Green pair started well winning the first two games, but couldn’t come back quick enough, with the Grovedale pair winning 8-4 and undefeated for the season.
Stewart proved too consistent in the first set in her singles against Esther White taking it 6-1, however, White stayed composed to take an early 2-0 lead before Stewart hit back to go up 4-3. With some long rallies, with neither player willing to give it up, White managed to break again and win the set 6-4. White was the eventual winner taking the super-tiebreak 10-4.
Schoenmaekers faced Selena Rosevelt in the remaining singles, and with minimal unforced errors, took the first set 6-2. In the second, Schoenmaekers got to a 5-2 lead before Rosevelt super charged her game to bring it back to 5-all, saving several match points.
Both players held serve to force a tie-break, but Schoenmaekers managed to take it out 7-4, making Grovedale inaugural winners of the section.
Wandana Heights continued their winning form against Ocean Grove in 1 Boys, with the team winning their three previous matchups, they were going to be hard to beat. Wandana won three singles while Raf Berra put the Grove on the board winning the fourth in a tie-break.
The teams split the doubles, giving Jensen Wong, Archie Shih, Azure Shih, Neena Cummings and Finn Myers a triumphant 4-2 win for Wandana.
Highton Blue, despite finishing second, had a winning 3-0 record over minor premiers Western Heights Uniting in 2 Boys and were hoping to continue their form. The match remained close during the singles with the teams going set for set, and tied at two sets all going into the doubles with Highton holding a three-game lead.
The doubles proved the difference with Highton winning both to take the match 4-2.
Surfcoast Torquay Blue were out to reverse their semi-final loss to Drysdale in 3 Boys and reverse it they did. The team of Samson McGrane, George Montgomery, Cooper Conquest and Jake Pearson improved on their doubles results from the first semi and took a 5-1 win this week to claim the premiership.
It was difficult to predict what would happen in the 7 Boys final, with Surfcoast Jan Juc and Geelong Lawn, as their last encounter ended in a draw, and after the singles it was still anyone’s game.
Jesse Todd and Bryce Hunter won their singles for Jan Juc 6-2 and 6-4, while Will Hetherington and Shengmin Han did the same for Lawn 6-2 and 6-2, giving them a slender two-game lead. From there the Lawn doubles pairs took charge with Wetherington and Andy Buckle posting a 6-0 win and Valentino Maccora and Will Pankhurst getting over the line 7-5 to crown Geelong Lawn the victors 4-2.
All junior finals are now complete with players looking forward to the start of the summer season on October 11.
