It is getting to the pointy end of Tuesday Women’s Pennant with four of the seven sections in finals and with the remaining three in their final round.
The three sections that were in their final round saw a change to the makeup of the final four in dramatic fashion.
St Mary’s took their fate in their own hands and worked their way into the finals in Section 7 with a win over Leopold displacing them in the final four, and backed up in Section 6 doing the same to Grovedale.
In Section 2 Anglesea had a day they would prefer to forget against third placed Point Lonsdale, winning only seven games and relinquishing fourth spot to Surfcoast Torquay Yellow who took a 4-2 win over second placed Aireys Inlet.
The elimination finals in the remaining four sections were all hard fought, with several close matches.
Section 5 saw Clifton Springs and Surfcoast Bellbrae go toe to toe, with each team having a win over the other during the home and away season, making the outcome hard to pick. The match had an even start with each team taking a 6-2 win in the first two sets, before the Springs won the next two 6-4, 6-1 giving them the advantage going into the remaining two sets.
Bellbrae kept themselves in the match winning the sixth 6-3, but with Sarka Vajbar winning her third set for the day in the fifth, the Springs will progress through to next week against Grovedale.
One of the closest results for the day came in Section 4 when Drysdale hosted Eastern Districts in near perfect conditions. The teams split the first two sets 6-4 and 7-5 and things remained close going into the final two sets with set three going to Drysdale in a tie-break while Districts got up in the fourth 6-4. With Drysdale only holding a one-game lead, the match was up for grabs, and while Madison Gioffre and Debbie Irwin gave Districts a third set with their 6-4 win, Helen Glavocih and Mandy McManus went a little better for Drysdale winning 6-1 putting their team over the line and into the prelim final against Surfcoast Jan Juc Blue.
Highton were guaranteed a prelim finals berth with Blue and Gold teams facing off in Section 3. Blue had a great start taking the first three sets before Gold put themselves on the board in the fourth. Cindy O’Brien teamed with Lisa Dowling in the fifth to win her third set for the day, and kept her team’s finals run alive with the 4-2 win.
Section 1 had two close results with only one game separating Surfcoast Torquay Black and Yellow in the first final, and the result at three sets all between Moriac and Barwon Heads in the elimination. The teams were separated by one-game going into the final two sets and the final two sets were again split, but while Fiona Blood and Kerrie Fatone won their for Moriac in a tie-break, Stephanie Woolley won her third set for the day, this time with Tracie Roderick 6-1, putting them ahead by five games and into their first Section 1 prelim.
