Summer night competition back with a bang

TENNIS Tuesday night by Greg McDermott BUOYED by the recent action at the Australian Open, and despite the very hot conditions, Tuesday night teams returned to the courts after the summer break. All players were keen to get some good tennis in, but we only managed to get the first two sets played before the heavens opened and delivered a spectacular light show and some much-needed rain; although it would have been appreciated if it waited another hour. As much as the players were disappointed that we couldn't get a full night's tennis in, a washout was called, and points were split evenly. It was great to sit around, catch up on what everyone’s been up to over the break and share some laughs. We’re all keeping fingers crossed for better weather, and more tennis action, next Tuesday. Tuesday ladder: O’Loughlan 41.5, Murray 37, Yencken 34.5, McDonagh 34, Aldous 31, Crockett 28.5, Blackall 27.5, Hutchison 18. Wednesday by Courtney O’Loughlan A HOT day turned into a perfect night for tennis once the sun went down, as teams rejoined the competition following the summer break. Some great sets of tennis played in terrific spirit characterised the night with plenty of great rallies and stylish net shots on display. Mansfield Secondary College’s Burnt Orange side took on the tenacious Red Roses. After an even start in the first round of sets (Courtney O’Loughlan and Anna Francis 6 defeated Alice Kilpatrick and Sean Pitchford 3; Emma Kay and Lisa Morgan 6 defeated Warren Medcalf and Abbey McConnell 2) the Roses pulled away led by Alice Kilpatrick’s strong service game and ground strokes that were hard to find an answer to. The remaining sets went Red Roses way, and they finished the night 5 sets to 1 up. Over on court one and two it was a similar story on the score card with Brown Sugar’s Nick Ferguson, Kimberley Marsden, Julie Aldous and Leonie McLaughlin battling it out against Out of the Blue. Chris Hewlett and Steph Herridge eked out victory in a very tightly contested tie-break against Ferguson and McLaughlin, while Will McAllister had a strong night winning all three of his sets. Matt Lowe’s clean sweep was denied with an impressive 6-1 win by Nick Ferguson and Kimberley Marsden. Final result was 5-1 sets to Out of the Blue. Courts three and four saw some great matches between the True Colours and Crimson Souls with the Les/Scales team unlucky not to take a set for the evening after some closely fought matches. An overly comfortable resident Kookaburra almost caused an incident after a very close fly-by of on-court action, but this didn’t seem to put Liz Scales off her game, strong tennis bringing her to two tie-breaks over the evening. Crimson Souls’ Simon Young, Tynan Mims, Helen Knight and Laura Gosney wrapped up their sets despite the tough competition and came away with a 6-0 victory. Wednesday ladder: Out of the Blue 52, True Colours 38, Brown Sugar 36, Crimson Souls 30, Red Roses 22, Burnt Orange 11. Thursday by Zoe Richards THE sun beamed as did the smiles on the faces of players as they hit the court once again on Thursday night. This came following a late forfeit, sadly we didn’t have the pleasure of teams Let it Be and Night Fever. The show went on though, with courts one and two a-buzz with Come Together versus Changes and court three and four with Let’s Dance versus Smooth Operators. It was a tight tussle between Changes and Come Together. Both marital pairs, the Carpenters and the O'Briens, won their sets. Les Kerr held his nerve to serve it out after a marathon of deuces and hit harder and deeper as the night wore on. After two hotly contested sets the teams were split by one game. It was on! Ultimately Come Together edged out Changes in the final pairings as Rhonda Carpenter and Shane Richards put their foot down 6-1 and, after being well down, Kass and Bob brought it home in a tiebreaker 7-4. Lengthy baseline rallies, strong serves, and well-placed lobs were all on display. It seems it was the night for tiebreakers, Let’s Dance, Bec Wardenaar and Zoe Richards taking out the win against Smooth Operators, Ilena Meek and Bec Studds. With plenty of long rallies, an hour and 10 minutes later Let’s Dance were victorious finishing the tiebreaker, 8-6. However, the strength and determination of Smooth Operators was no match for Let’s Dance. With powerful serves and tricky baseline shots, Smooth Operators, Arthur Gerrans, Liam Wilson, Ilena Meek and Bec Studds had a champion night winning 30 games and four sets. With such strong, experienced players on one side, Smooth Operators had kindly and thoughtfully offered Let’s Dance an exchange at the beginning of the night. Let’s Dance graciously declined the offer preferring to “stick together” no matter what - Let’s Dance team solidarity is strong. Everyone earned their rehydration that night. The beaming smiles continued as they had the absolute pleasure of singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and celebrating their illustrious leader, Rhonda Carpenter. A fun finish to a wonderful night of play. Thursday ladder: Smooth Operators 48, Come together 47, Let it Be 34, Changes 29, Night Fever 19, Let’s Dance 12 In somewhat cooler conditions Juniors with Jo O’Brien and Hot Shots with Liam Delany resumed last Saturday morning after a week of intense heat.

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