LOCAL TENNIS with Donna Schoenmaekers
After two weeks of dreadful weather, Tuesday Midweek enjoyed near perfect conditions in bright sunshine for round 13, and the competition in Section 3 was even hotter.
With seven of the eight teams moving positions on the ladder and six still within real contention of making finals with just one round left to play, the action is heating up.
Ladder leaders Surfcoast Black Torquay travelled to Highton to face third placed Highton Blue and was looking competitive after the first two sets, where the teams were only separated by one point. From there, Blue took control winning the next four sets with Cindy O’Brien and Belinda Murphy leading the way winning their three sets, in a hard fought battle, pushing themselves into second and relegating Torquay to third, with only three points separating the teams.
Sixth placed Surfcoast Green Bellbrae also had a tough day when it hosted seventh placed Highton Gold. Gold started strong winning the first two sets 6-1 and from there took a stranglehold on the match with Highton again winning 5-1, pushing Bellbrae into seventh, and keeping a slim chance of making finals, if they can beat Clifton Springs 6-0 next week. Three set winners from this match were Linda Mew and Jacqui Duxson.
Clifton Springs pushed into the four with a 5-1 win at home over Ocean Grove, led by Kristine and Emily Mortimer who won their three sets for the day. The first two sets were hard fought, with the Springs getting home 6-4 in each, before taking the next three 6-2, with Ocean Grove winning the last 6-4.
Second placed Mount Moriac would have been nervous going into its match against fourth placed Wandana Heights, as it only got over the line by one game in the previous encounter. The match started with the teams splitting the first two sets, with Densie Matthews and Kerry Pickering taking the first for the Mount 7-5, while Melinda Chadwick and Wendy Bell countered for the Heights 6-3.
From there the battle raged with three of the four remaining sets decided 7-5, but with Mount Moriac on the winning end of each of these.
Matthews and Pickering finished as three-set winners helping their team to a five sets to one win, but by only eight games and were rewarded with top spot on the ladder.
Finals positions are certainly not set, with Surfcoast Torquay hosting Mount Moriac, Highton Blue facing Ocean Grove, Wandana Heights wanting a good win against Surfcoast Bellbrae, and Clifton Springs against Highton Gold in the final round of home and away.
Any team wanting to play finals will need to win and create some form to set themselves up for what is shaping to be a cracking finals series.
