LOCAL TENNIS Donna Schoenmaekers
Five of nine sections had teams knocked out of the top four in a tumultuous final round of Tennis Geelong’s midweek ladies competition on Tuesday.
In Section 1 Wandana Heights defeated Geelong Lawn White away to move from fourth to third.
Moriac took out a close three-sets-all win by five games over Clifton Springs to move into fourth, knocking White out of next week’s finals by just half a point.
In Section 3, Moriac needed one set to stay in the top four, and managed to do this, just, against minor premiers Highton.
With a 5-1 win this week and no losses in the second half of the season, Highton will be tough to beat in the Section 3 finals.
Barwon Heads defeated Surfcoast Bellbrae away 5-1 to move into fourth, knocking the latter out of the finals by one point.
The final four was determined last week in Section 4, but Surfcoast Yellow Torquay won themselves a double chance moving into second with a 4-2 win over Portarlington.
Portarlington fell back to third and now faces a do-or-die final against Surfcoast Black Torquay.
The bizarre occurred in Section 5 when Ocean Grove required a replay of two matches from round 7 to give them a slim chance of making finals, which is exactly what happened.
Ocean Grove took fourth place with their 4-2 win over ladder leaders Point Lonsdale.
Clifton Springs Yellow, who were second going into the round, capitulated to Wandana Heights 5-1.
Both results were a mirror of round 7, pushing Wandana and Ocean Grove up the ladder into third and fourth, with Clifton Springs Yellow dropping back to fifth.
Ocean Grove also spoiled Portarlington’s chances of making the four, with the latter falling short by a set.
Section 6 saw Teesdale miss out, dropping out of the four with their 1-5 loss to ladder leaders Highton Blue and Centre Court taking their place after they blasted Hamlyn Park 6-0.
At the start of the day three points separated first and fifth in Section 7.
At the end of the day just one point separated first and fourth, with Moriac heartbreakingly dropping from second to fifth following a last round thrashing.
Grovedale (fourth) smashed Moriac 6-0 to drop them from second to third.
Barwon Heads Blue (fifth) smashed Clifton Springs (eighth) 6-0 to leave them on the same points as Grovedale and St Stephens, forcing Moriac out of the four.
