LOCAL TENNIS with Donna Schoenmaekers
Despite a dreary weather forecast and overnight rain, Tennis Geelong’s Saturday Junior Pennant forged ahead with little interruption.
Section 3 Girls was set to be the most interesting grade of the round with Lara and Clifton Springs Blue level on points at the top of the ladder, playing seventh and eighth placed Highton and Waurn Ponds while only five points separated Clifton Springs White, Geelong Lawn, Western Heights Uniting and Barwon Heads in the middle of the table.
Clifton Springs Blue pushed themselves into top spot when they travelled to Highton to win 6-0 over the lower ranked team. The girls from Blue continue to do well, especially in singles with Maddy Grunberg, Charlotte Muller and Kaitlyn Cox only dropping one match each so far for the season.
Lara, while securing a win at home against Waurn Ponds 4-2, could not hold top spot and now sit two points behind Springs Blue. Lara secured three singles and a doubles in the win with Billie Robinson winning both matches for the morning.
The battle of the middle was on with Geelong Lawn hosting Clifton Springs White and Western Heights Uniting travelling to Barwon Heads and at the end of the day, all ladder positions had changed.
Geelong Lawn moved six points ahead of Barwon Heads into third with the team benefitting from their opposition being short a player. On the day, Lawn were too strong with Eva Katzer and Priya Antony winning their singles, while Lucy Robinson and Charlotte White took the doubles, improving the team’s chances of making finals.
Barwon Heads pushed themselves into fourth with their 4-2 win over Western Heights. The teams were level on sets and games with the singles with Annabel Ward having a win for the Heights in only her second match, but the Heads proved the better doubles combinations with Ava Marsden and Zarah Wood taking the first 6-0 and Chloe Pannekoecke and Pippa Twaites the second 6-4 to seal the win.
At the end of the round, only seventh and eighth didn’t change position, five points separate Geelong Lawn from Barwon Heads, level on points but with better percentage than Clifton Springs White, and they are only one point ahead of Western Heights.
This week will see more matches likely to affect ladder positions, so the girls will need to be on their game for the rest of the season to secure the elusive finals positions.
