The poor weather conditions continue to plague all competitions and Tuesday Women’s this week was no exception.
Of particular interest was the start of finals for Sections 1 and 3 and with dark clouds looming, play started, but mostly with some spots of rain.
Section 3 saw ladder leaders Clifton Springs host Anglesea in the battle for direct entry to the grand final with each team posting a 4-2 win against the other during the season.
The Springs took the first set with Kristine Mortimer and Debbie McLennan getting up in a tie-break while Anglesea took the second with Anna Pegg and Carol Herben having a slightly easier 6-2 win. Pegg and Andrea Webb kept Anglesea marginally ahead, winning 7-5 while the Springs’ McLennan and Denise McGennisken took a 6-3 win, leaving the match tied going into the final two sets.
Webb and Herben put Anglesea up with a 6-4 win in the fifth, but McLennan and Julie Bolton proved too good in the last, winning 6-1, giving McLennan three wins for the day and putting the Springs ahead by three games and a rest next week.
The elimination final saw Ocean Grove travel to Highton. Both teams boasted a 4-2 win over the other during the regular season. Kay Ehrenberg and Jan Fordyce got the visitors off to a good start with a 6-3 win in the first, but Highton’s Anna Goli and Leanne Baxter won the second 6-4. Highton got the better of the middle sets with Goli and Pauline Edmunds winning the third 7-5 while Liz Worpel and Louise Mayall won 6-0.
With a seven-game deficit to make up, Anglesea had its back against the wall. There was a glimmer of hope when Fordyce and Karen Singer won the sixth 6-3, but Edmunds and Mayall proved too good in the fifth to give Highton a fourth set and a place in next week’s preliminary final.
In Section 1, Surfcoast Bellbrae and Moriac lined up in the first-semi with Surfcoast finishing just half a point ahead of Moriac to claim the minor premiership.
It was a tough day for Bellbrae, even with home court advantage. Moriac stormed out of the blocks with Bridget Laird and Fiona Blood winning the first set 6-2 while Bronwyn Tasker and Charlotte Wilson were unstoppable winning the second 6-0. Laird and Wilson teamed up in the third and scraped through in a tie-break and when Blood and Kerrie Fatone won the fourth 6-3, it was all over with Moriac having an unassailable lead, and direct entry to the grand final.
Geelong West hosted Ocean Grove in the second-semi in what was likely to be a close one with West winning only on games in the last encounter. The first sets were interrupted by rain, but the games were tight with 6-4 wins to West’s Jacqui McGrath and Angela Sherlock matched by the Grove’s Mel Keating and Judi Broad.
Ocean Grove took a 3-1 lead with Kate Lockhart and Susan Bissett winning 6-2, matched by Keating and Alison Lugg, giving the Grove an eight-game buffer. McGrath and Jodie Connell kept West in the match winning 6-4, but Sherlock and Kerrie Browne were leading 5-4 against Lockhart and Broad before the skies opened and the rain came, resulting in the match being abandoned. Ocean Grove, however, was too far ahead on games to leave the match unresolved, booking a meeting against Surfcoast Bellbrae next week.
