It was the final match of the home and away season for most of Tennis Geelong’s Junior and Senior pennants this week and while many teams were fighting for finals positions, four teams in Section 4 Boys were no exception.
While Barwon Heads was comfortably ahead of the competition and Lara likely to finish second, sitting six points ahead of third placed Surfcoast Jan Juc, there were only two points separating Juc, Grovedale, Wandana Heights and Waurn Ponds and only two spots available to the four teams.
Surfcoast Jan Juc guaranteed itself a finals spot when it won against a depleted Leopold six sets to love.
Leopold, with a player short, played well pushing Juc in four sets but couldn’t get over the line and get the team on the board.
Waurn Ponds kept its hopes alive with a win away from home against ladder leaders Barwon Heads four sets to two. Lotti McDonald and Lucy Blersch led the team winning their singles and followed up in the doubles with Ethan Lubcke and Ari Baco, putting the team in the winning circle.
While excited by the win, they were anxious in waiting on results of other matches to determine their fate next week.
Wandana Heights also kept in contention with a hard fought 4-2 win over Lara.
Finn Meyers, Spencer Durno and Hugh Madden put the Heights ahead with 6-4,6-5,6-4 wins in their singles and Durno and Madden put the result beyond doubt when they took the second doubles 6-1.
The final match of the round saw Geelong Lawn host Grovedale. The home team’s Flynn Matthews and Sam Patterson lead the way winning their singles 6-1 and 6-5 and teaming up in the doubles for a 6-3 win.
With Isaac Alexander getting over the line in the fourth singles, Lawn took the win four sets to two, and helped shape the final four.
At the end of the day, despite their losses Barwon Heads and Lara maintained their positions at the top of the ladder and will face off in the first-semi next week. Jan Juc’s convincing win kept third position and Wandana Heights and Waurn Ponds pushed ahead of Grovedale to move into fourth and fifth, with Waurn Ponds missing only by percentage.
