It was a wet start to Saturday’s Junior Pennant, and it was definitely a return to winter tennis after a couple of weeks of glorious weather.
This season marks the first for Premier Girls, a format for the top junior girls to play an extended format, closer to that of tournament play.
With the weather as it was and the early start of the match, Ocean Grove were unable to host Wandana Heights as the courts were unplayable, leaving Ocean Grove in third, but Wandana moving into fifth.
Ladder leaders Grovedale hosted Geelong Lawn White, and play was able to get underway once the courts were dried.
Hanna Schoenmaekers and Frankie Moxham faced off in the first singles, which featured lengthy rallies and smart play with both players driving well
and making good use of the drop shot. In the end Schoenmaekers got Grovedale to the start they wanted, taking the win 6-2, 6-1.
In the second singles Grovedale’s Annabel King had a marathon match against Lawn White’s Alice Chomley. King and Chomley were going game for game in the first set until two-all, before Chomley’s consistency pushed her ahead, winning the set 6-2. The second set started in a similar manner, punctuated with long rallies and some fantastic winners.
At four-all King got the break to serve for the set, but under pressure from Chomley, was unable to hold, taking it to five-all. Both players managed to hold their next service games taking it to a tie-breaker. Again, the players went point for point, until King was able to get ahead at 5-4 and from there held on to take the breaker 7-5.
The match then went to the deciding super tie-break, and both players were playing smart, being conservative when needed but taking their chances when warranted. Again King took the lead at 5-4, and managed to maintain that to the end, eventually victorious 10-8.
The lengthy rallies continued into the doubles, with all players involved in multiple points. Both teams produced some quality doubles play, but the Grovedale pair proved too good in the end taking the set 8-5.
Second placed Geelong Lawn Green hosted Barwon Heads, and produced a similar scoreline to the previous match. The Heads’ Alice Crane had a slow start against Lawn Green’s Lily Stewart in the first set, with Stewart winning 6-1, but performed better in the second, Stewart the winner 6-1, 6-4.
The second singles was a battle with the home team’s Saskia Harendarz getting over Makayla Smith in a tie-break, before Smith levelled the match winning the second 6-4. The super also went Smith’s way 10-6, putting the teams level on rubbers, but Lawn with a three set to one lead.
Lawn made short work of the doubles with Stewart and Harendarz triumphing over Crane and Sarah Malouf 8-1 to give them the win for the day.
With a six-team fixture, next week will be the end of the first round of home and away with all ladder positions able to change, and will give a good indication of where the teams sit in relation to each other, although with 10 weeks left to go, there is still plenty of time for teams to gel and make the most of the extended format.
