..:: Round 12 Wrap ::..

Round 12 Wrap – 19/1/09

Perfect summer conditions greeted players to the return of the Sportspower backed Saturday senior pennant. Following convincing weekend victories, Bendigo Lawn and Spring Gully Mozzies have both leap frogged South Bendigo and now sit one-two respectively.

South Bendigo 57-2-2 lt Spring Gully Mozzies 91-10-10

South Bendigo, the competition benchmark to this point, perhaps got a bit of a taste of things to come in the lead up to the finals. Having lost their top ranked players in Aiden Fiztgerald and Ashlea Baker for the remainder of the season, along with the unavailability of Corbin Fleming, South were completely outclassed by a very strong Mozzies side.

Grant Leader and Simon Kelly were promoted to fill the void in the opening mens doubles and faced a tough battle against Jamie Brown and Travis Toner. Though competitive, Leader and Kelly were unable to capture a win in either the doubles or singles, with the only singles victory coming through Frank Ryan for South. He was able to outlast Steve Rogers 9-7 in a closely fought battle.

The Mozzies also welcomed back Shane Cox who looks like he will resume his position in the team for the remainder of the season. Cox was a strong performer and had too much experience for South’s young Jono Guy.

In the ladies, Paige Ipsen has been recruited to fill the space of Ashlea Baker and combined with no 1 Maxine Everitt against Jessica Hartland and Bronwyn Osborne. It was a tough ask for Ipsen, with the new combination unable to make inroads in the doubles or singles.

The mixed was much the same with the Mozzies pairs of Brown/Hartland and Cox/Osborne overpowering their opponents. Some joy came late in the day for South when they secured their second point of the match through Frank Ryan and Simon Kelly.

The best player for the winners included Jamie Brown, Shane Cox, Jessica Hartland and Bronwyn Osborne, all of whom won 3 sets for the day. Whilst Frank Ryan provided a lone hand for the bloods in winning 2 of his 3 sets.


Strath Park 77-4-4 lt Castlemaine 90-8-8

Cellar dwellers Strathdale Park travelled to Castlemaine in search of their second win for the season and again came up short. In an entertaining battle the Maine were able to withstand an early charge from Strath and recorded an impressive 8 sets to 4 victory.

Leigh Campbell was a last minute replacement for regular Jack Baker for Strath and combined with Alistair Baker to record a come from behind win over Matt Hartland and Shane Burke in a tiebreaker. Straths ladies pair of Eliza Long and Heather Robbins replicated the feat of the boys in overcoming Alyssa Cole and Kirby Jefferies 9-8.

The turning point of the match however was in the singles, where Castlemaine rallied to win 5 of the six matches. Hartland, Burke, Dean Harris and Robert Jefferies were all too steady on the slow synthetic grass for their Strath opponents. Alyssa Cole also impressed for the home team, defeating young Eliza Long 8-6 in a high class match which provided some heavy hitting.

At the mixed the home team had a commanding 6 set to 3 lead. The Strath combination of Leon Retallick and Heather Robbins gave their team some hope with a close 8-6 win over Dean Harris and Kirby Jefferies. However, when Shane Burke and Alyssa Cole came back from match points down to defeat Alistair Baker and Eliza Long, the Maine was home. Hartland and Jefferies sealed the win with a win in the last doubles of the day.

Bendigo Lawn 86-10-10 df Strath Park Storm 45-2-2

Bendigo Lawn moved to the top of the table with a demolotion over 4th placed Starth Park Storm. The lawn had too many options for the Storm, who were without regular no 1’s Terry Smith and Michael Smyth.

Andrew Lethlean and James McArthur were promoted up to order to fill the void for the Storm and found the going tough against the Garwood brothers Curt and Ward. Curt was again his stingy self in conceding only 4 games for the afternoon and in doing so has moved him to outright leader in the player statistics race. The Storm only singles victory came through James McArthur who impressed with an 8-3 victory over Ward Garwood.

For the laides Tamara Wright and Mandy Connors-Butson again combined in defeating Tova Smith and Michelle Rodwell. Smith put up a strong effort against Wright, going down in a close match 9-7. Connors-Butson was too strong for Rodwell, again winning here 3 sets for the afternoon.

The Storms second point came late in the day when Andrew Lethlean and Daniel Watson combined to defeat Ward Garwood and Stefan Butson.

The best players for the winners included captain Curt Garwood, Michael Nihill, Mandy Connors-Butson and Tamara Wright, all whom won their three sets.

Section 2
Spring Gully New China 9-79 df BLTC Green 1-38
Spring Gully Blue 8-70 df Epsom 2-48
Spring Gully Sensation 10-80 df BLTC Bronze 0-27

Section 3
BLTC Red 8-69 df BLTC Blue 2-32
BLTC Federer 4-61 lt BLTC Gold 6-68
BLTC Rafa 10-80 df Strath Park Symmetry 0-0