Premiership teams from across the state converged on Royal South Yarra, Monash, Beaumauris and MCC Glen Iris Valley Tennis Clubs on the weekend for the Annual Victorian State League Championships, where the year’s winners compete for a State title.
Tennis Geelong had 15 of its premiership teams across all five of its open competitions competing against teams from all over Melbourne, Moe, Shepparton and Sale just to name a few regional areas.
Moolap is a club that has fully embraced the Championships with teams competing since the concept’s inception three years ago. This year the club had four teams, and they made the most of the weekend with everyone staying in Melbourne and having a club teams dinner Saturday night, providing an opportunity to bond, reflect, share stories and enjoy each other’s company.
Tuesday Women’s Section 6 premiers had a challenging time in 2 Women’s, where the teams appeared relatively even on paper, but the standard of play was a step up. The team maintained great spirits and camaraderie off the court, despite the tough competition.
Thursday Triples were well represented with Spring Section 2 winners Zing Kings in 3Open with many tightly contested sets, and Winter Section 3 winners Goats, facing familiar opponents from Highton and Surfcoast in their group. The biggest highlight for the day was Two Phones Chol, which took a clean sweep of 2024’s three competitions, and its good form showed through, winning its pool in 2Open dropping only two sets in three match ups, earning them a place in Sunday’s final.
The final, against Burden Park, was a showcase of high quality tennis, determination and team spirit. The teams split the opening two sets, with Burden Park ahead by only one game, but Chol showed why it is a quality team, winning the remaining two sets and being crowned State Champions.
Highton had two teams playing this weekend, with Triples LOBsters Section 4 Summer and 3 Spring premiers who won two of their three matches finishing second in their 4Open pool, while Monday Women’s Section 1 Summer premiers Smash Hits, was competitive winning several sets, but had some tough competition in 1Women’s.
Surfcoast also had three representative teams with Summer’s 2Men winning at least one set in each of its matches in 4Open, while Tuesday Women’s Section 4 Summer premiers, Torquay won two of their pool matches to qualify for the final but were forced to withdraw due to injury. Torquay, premiers from 3Mixed in Summer, had high hopes of making the final in 8Open winning two close matches, before Western Heights dashed its chances, going down in the final match.
Grovedale 5Open Summer premiers missed its Geelong compatriots in the second pool of 4Open, and performed admirably winning at least one set in each match, while club mates 6Open Summer premiers won its pool in 5Open, to face Bayside’s Black Rock in the final.
The teams went set for set, however, Black Rock finished ahead on games at the end of the day, but the tennis was enjoyed by all.
Bannockburn, Winter 2Men premiers, was on the other side of 5Open to Grovedale and also performed well winning at least one set in each match, and having a narrow three-game loss in its first outing.
Triples Spring Section 5 premiers Deuce of Hazzard had a lot of tennis over the weekend, with many close sets, including three tie-breaks. The team took two wins and finished second in its pool, narrowly missing a place in the final.
Western Height Uniting’s Section 6 Winter Triples team was very competitive in the 8Open pool, with a win, a close loss and a 3-1 loss to eventual winners Beaumaris.
In pool A, Wandana Heights Summer 7Open came very close to making the final. The first match was against eventual finalists Western Region’s Williamstown, where it went down on games with sets tied at two-all, and with good performances in the other two matches, actually finished better than Beaumaris in pool B.
It was a great weekend for Tennis Geelong with 15 of the 83 teams competing, especially with a team crowned State Champions in Two Phones Chol.
