Premier League
Bendigo Lawn vs South Bendigo @ CCC Crts 8, 9 & 10
The Sports Power Premier League match of the season thus far will see Bendigo Lawn resume hostilities against South Bendigo in a top of the table clash. With dream match ups across the card this promises to be a mouth watering encounter.
In the mens spectators will be in for a treat with two of the best young players in regional Victoria with Lawn's Curt Garwood battling South's Aiden Fizgerald. Fitzgerald is a former regional singles champion with a national high ranking of 70 in Australia, whilst 18 year old Garwood is force on the rise. His recent list of achievements include state representation at the Pizzi Cup in Perth, along with a semi finals appearance in the Under 18 Victorian School boys titles in 2007.
Fitzgerald v Garwood is but one of many corkers in the men, with Ward Garwood v Frank Ryan, Tiger Nihill v Grant Leader and Stefan Butson v Simon Kelly likely to be the other match ups.
In the womens section Mandy Connors-Butson will look to seek revenge on Ashlea Baker, the only person to defeat her in singles this year. A victory for Connors-Butson would confirm her title as no 1 women player in premier league, whilst Baker will be hoping to again succeed over her more experience opponent. At no 2, Lawn's Tamara Wright and Maxine Everitt will fight out a close match of contrasting styles. Wright likes to hit winners, whilst Everitt prefers to grind her opponents into the ground.
This really should be a great match, with either team a genuine chance of victory. With Fizgerald and Garwood both so dominant for their respective teams the result may hinge on their individual battle. Having only dropped 18 games in 9 sets though, its hard to look past young Curt and therefore the Lawn.
Verdict: 6 sets each, with the lawn to get home on games.
Castlemaine vs Spring Gully Mozzies @ CCC Crts 2, 6 & 7
Castlemaine and Spring Gully Mozzies will reacquaint themselves during round 6. With both teams losing ground to the runaway top 3 sides, their will be plenty at stake, especially for the Mozzies who have seemingly lost their invincibility of recent years.
The highlight of this clash will again be watching Matt Hartland go into battle for the Maine, against his former team mates the Mozzies. Hartland was issued a reality check by Jamie Brown in their opening round 1 encounter, convincingly winning his 3 sets over his former team mate. However, with Hartland coming off some impressive form last week, Brown will need to be at the top of his game to hold his younger rival at bay.
Lower in the mens order Peter Valentine and Brad Booth have been doing the job for the Mozzies in recent weeks and should have too much fire power for Dean Harris and David Carre.
Jessica Hartland and Bronwyn Osborne will be looking to add to their impressive player points rankings. Both Mozzies girls are currently in the top 10, with Osborne currently in 3rd place having only dropped 2 sets for the season. The pair will have far too much class for Castlemaine's Alyssa Cole, Kirby Jefferies and Jessie Culpitt.
The Mozzies will need to win as many sets as possible this week to stay in touch with the top 3 teams. Whilst Castlemaine put up a good showing against the Lawn last week, it is hard to see them replicating the result today.
Verdict: Mozzies to win 8 sets to 4
Strath Park vs Strath Park Storm @ CCC Crts 1, 4 & 5
Strath Park will be looking to get their second win of the season when they take on club rival the Storm. Strath Park won the opening encounter between these two teams, however, have not seen much joy since. The Storm meanwhile have been traveling along nicely and find themselves fighting for a top 2 spot on the league ladder.
With some doubt over the availability of Storm no 1 lady Tova Smith, Strath Park will hope to pick up some cheap matches in her absence. Eliza Long and Heather Robbins have combined extremely well for Strath Park this year and should pick up a majority of the ladies.
In the men, Supervet Terry Smith and Michael Smyth will again lead the Storm charge against the tenacious Jack and Alistair Baker. The Baker boys combined well in the opening match of the season to defeat Smith and Smyth in the doubles, with Jack Baker following up with a strong singles victory over Smyth. Strath will again be hoping the fellas can replicate the round one performance.
This match however, will be won and lost in the 3 & 4 men. Strath Storm's James McArther and Danny Watson have been impressive in the singles but are yet to gel in the doubles. With Leon Retallick and Reuben Ellis likely to be their opponents, the outcome of this match will be in the lower order battle. If one of either Retallick or Ellis can score a singles win, that may be the difference.
Verdict: These two teams have had some titanic battles in recent years and this shouldn't be any exception. In a close battle the Strom may just have enough to win on games.
Section 2
BLTC Green vs Epsom @ Lawn 6 & 7
Spring Gully Sensation vs Spring Gully Blue @ Lawn 8 & 9
Spring Gully New China vs BLTC Bronze @ Lawn 4 & 5
Section 3
BLTC Rafa vs BLTC Blue @ Lawn 10 & 11
Strath Park Symmetry vs BLTC Gold @ Lawn 12 & 13
BLTC Red vs BLTC Federer @ Lawn 14 & 15