Hamlyn Park H.E.A.T had already guaranteed a place in next week’s Thursday Triples Section 2 grand final with an unassailable lead on Moolap Zing Kings.
Geelong Lawn 2 is only three and a half points behind, hoping to win well over Moolap Goats, which still had a very outside chance of sneaking into the final.
H.E.A.T. started well against the Zing Kings with Axel Potter-Ayres getting up in the first singles 6-2 while Todd Morgan and Ed Jones battled through winning a tie-break.
Jones used the doubles as a warm up to power through the second singles 6-0 while Joe Traficante and Potter-Ayres had their hands full, eventual winners in another tie-break.
Jones got a trifecta when he teamed with Traficante to win 6-4, with Zing Kings’ only success coming in the third singles with Matt Young posting a 6-2 win.
The win consolidates the H.E.A.T. on top with Zing Kings waiting on the other match to determine whether they had done enough to earn a rematch next week.
Moolap Goats hosted Geelong Lawn 2, and did its best to thwart Lawn’s chances at overtaking the Kings to face H.E.A.T. next week. Kyle Beattie and Fletcher Allen put the Goats on the board with a 6-2 win, followed up by a tie-break win to Dan Smith in the singles.
Allen kept his momentum, winning the second singles 6-3, while Shaun Rawolle and Michael Collins got Lawn on the board, winning 6-4. Lawn had kicked into gear with Rawolle winning the third singles 6-2 while Collins and Tom Smith pulled off a 6-1 win, giving Lawn the win by six games and putting itself half a point ahead of Moolap Zing Kings to book a place in next week’s grand final.
Section 5 has another week to play, but with changes at the top and bottom of the ladder, there is still plenty to play for.
Leopold’s Hit for Brains held a narrow lead over Moolap Aces going into this week, but with The Big 3 pulling out a 5-1 over the ladder leaders, things would change by the end of the night.
Leopold’s Hayden Walters and Georgia Verlin won the first doubles, but from there The Big 3 of Marius Dyer, Alex Buso and Dev Rushi won the remaining five sets to take the win.
It was a battle of second vs third when Grovedale’s Four Posts hosted Moolap’s ACES, with both teams still well in grand final contention and with a close match in their first encounter, they appeared well matched.
The end result however, proved to be one sided with ACES taking a clean sweep, moving into first place and leaving Grovedale with only the slimmest of chances to make the final.
Geelong Lawn 3 had a solid 5-1 win over Grovedale’s Cutting It Fine and was hoping that it would help its chances at staying in finals contention, but with the other results, the strong win wasn’t enough to pull up out of fourth.
This week ACES will face Geelong Lawn 3 and need two sets to guarantee the minor premiership. Hit for Brains will travel to Grovedale to play Cutting It Fine and needs to win to hold out Grovedale’s Four Posts and ACES to lose to gain the home final next week.
