Tennis Geelong’s Tuesday Midweek and Section 6 entered round 10 and produced five moves in ladder positions.
With only four rounds to go before finals, the teams are neck and neck with seven of eight well within contention of making the final four.
Western Heights Uniting consolidated top of the ladder at Grovedale and came away with a 4-2 win, stretching its lead on second to five points. The teams were level on sets and games going into the last two sets, but the Heights saved the best for last with Carmel Addlem and Ruth Shirley winning the fifth set 6-4 while on the other court Debra Brackley and Wendy Bell sealed the win taking the sixth 6-2. The loss pushed Grovedale from second to fourth, but still within eight points of the ladder leaders.
St Stephen’s rocketed into second from fourth winning over Point Lonsdale with home court advantage. While the ladies from Lonny rallied well, St Stephens was too strong taking the match six sets to love, going ahead of third place on percentage.
Wandana Heights leapfrogged Barwon Heads going to sixth and just five points out of the four, when it defeated the home team five sets to one. While the set score looked lopsided, four were decided by just the one break of serve, and another in a tie-break, leaving only 11 games between the teams at the end of the day.
The final match was the closest when fourth placed Clifton Springs hosted third placed St Mary’s. The teams were evenly matched through the day with the Springs ahead by one game after the first two sets, then St Mary’s ahead by three going into the final two.
The Springs did well taking the sixth set 6-2, but Natalie Purves teamed with Roma Hollis to win her third set for the day 6-0 to give St Mary’s the win by five games while tied at three sets all, leaving St Mary’s in third and Clifton Springs dropping to fifth, but only one point out of the four.
The teams will now have a chance to freshen up with a two week break over school holidays before coming back to see who can outlast their opposition to still be in contention in November.
