Juniors represent Yarrawonga at elite level

The Pat Cash Cup is a junior event for all the metropolitan and country regions. Each region enters a team of 16 players, with 4 players in each of the 12/U, 14/U, 16/U and 18/U age groups. All of the states elite juniors participated in this event and the standard of the tennis was exceptional.

The North East region was the best performed country region finishing seventh. Liam played very well to win 2 out of his 5 singles matches and the same amount of mixed matches. 

Goulburn had a tougher weekend finishing eleventh. The Yarrawonga representatives did very well with Lucy and Jack winning 4 and Tess winning 3 of their 5 singles matches and their share of mixed games. Well done to these four players who each represented the club in the best possible fashion.

Saturday morning juniors

Saturday morning was a wonderful morning of tennis with kids everywhere enjoying the sunshine. The Hot Shots stars continue to develop which is so pleasing to see with balls flying everywhere. 

The coaching classes also have seen great improvement with continuous rallying now evident which bodes well for an elevation to matches next year. A special thank you to Jess Linehan, Jayden Arnold and Ella Rhodes who made their coaching debut with some of the regular coaches unavailable.

The players in the matches had long games which meant the morning went much longer than normal. This is a good problem to have as it demonstrates the improvement by all of the players. 

The results were: Group 1 - Ian Dimble 18, Max Loughnan 18, Kristi Hardman 18. 

Group 2 - Harry Mouat 18, Maisee Pell 18, Edward Judd 17. 

Group 3 - Eliza Whitely, Kendall Connell 18, Zoe Schweda 17. 

Group 4 - Darcy Cox 18, Parker Lappin 18, Tahdg Foran 13.

Some of the Junior Club Championships have been completed but there are few finals still to be played. The entire results will be published once all matches are completed.

Please remember there is no junior tennis on Saturday as it is the long weekend. After the long weekend there will be two more Saturdays of juniors.

Wilby Tennis Association

The second last round of matches in the Wilby Tennis Association produced some high standard matches and also a great social environment. This is a unique competition and it has certainly provided the breeding ground for some of the region’s best players.

On Friday night Burramine hosted Mulwala. 

In the mens division each of the sets were extremely close with Mulwala winning 4-2. Rocky Leith dominated the courts winning all his sets whilst Frank Martin and Dennis Phibbs each won 2 sets. Burramine’s best man was Narelle Bassett who won 2 sets. 

Burramine reversed the result in the ladies winning all 6 sets in a consistent performance with Lucy Bassett, Kirsty Skene, Loz Wallace and Tess Bassett winning all their matches. 

The mixed was again very close with each team claiming 2 sets with Burramine claiming the points with a narrow 17-16 win on games. 

Overall Burramine won 10 sets to 6 to claim the night 6 points to 2.

In the battle of the competitions fiercest rivals Wilby visited Tungamah. A great night was had by all with an enjoyable night of tennis. 

The mens section resulted in Tungamah winning 4 sets to 2. For Tungamah the competitions best player Josh Buerckner won all his sets and Will Cooper and Liam Williams won 2 sets whilst for Wilby Jason Bale won 2 sets. 

The dominant Tungamah ladies won all 6 sets with Mandy Williams, Jenny Buerckner, Chelsea Sidebottom and Penny Cooper undefeated.

 Wilby fought back well in the mixed to have 2 sets each. Overall Tungamah won the night 12 sets to 4 resulting in them taking all 8 points.

On Saturday Telford travelled to Savernake for warm day of tennis. Savernake played very well in the men winning each of the 6 sets with Jamie Hicks, Jock Toms, Jayden Arnold and Angelique Bruce winning 3 sets each. 

In the ladies there was a reverse in fortune with Telford winning 5 sets to 1. For Telford Sandra Banks and Chris Hawkins won 3 matches each and Angela Mitchell and Kura Fraser each had 2 wins. Georgie Bruce and Stacie Arnold won the set for Savernake. 

Telford also won the mixed 3 sets to 1 although a close game score indicated the matches were very even. At the end of the day the sets were split evenly 8 all but Telford took home 6 points to Savernake’s 2. 

This week in the final round before the finals Telford will play Burramine in the top of the table clash, Tungamah will host Savernake and Wilby will take on Mulwala. 

The current ladder is Telford 55, Burramine 49, Tungamah 42, Savernake 32, Wilby 20 and Mulwala 18. 

Friday night aggregate

It was great to see 10 players have a hit on Friday night. Apologies that the scribe failed to take a copy of the scoresheets so accurate scores aren’t available. 

Group 1 had Grant Chappell, Jack Bassett, Ash Wheaton, Mike Lairson and Chris Mortimore. The volleying and rallies in this group were superb and there were some very close sets. 

In the second group Ian Macpherson, Amy Lairson, Hans Lang, Julie Pritchard and Michael Barclay had some very long matches that were also filled with some excellent tennis. Aggregate will be on again this Friday night and will be a great lead into a long weekend.

Tuesday Mens 

With the business end of the season approaching it meant that all players were far more focused this week. There were many long matches with a few games finishing with barely any daylight available and most players trying to guess where the ball was going.

The much-anticipated top of the table clash failed to live up to expectations with Wellington stamping its authority on the competition with a 6-0 set win over Bogong. 

In a powerful display Jack Bassett, Dave Porter, Pat Mansfield and Simon deOleveira won all their sets. Bogong’s captain Daryl Bennett will be looking for a different game plan come finals time.

In the battle of the H mountains Hotham took on Howitt. This was a very close match with each team taking 3 sets before Hotham was declared the winner on games 30-27. 

Best on court was Andrew Beggs who won 3 matches. For Howitt Ben Cope, Tim O’Dwyer and Brett Chapman claimed 2 each. The match was most memorable for the unrelenting banter between Ben Cope and Nick Mullavey.

Feathertop and Speculation also had a very tight match with the sets being split. Feathertop won 31-23 on games indicating they were ruthless in the matches they did win. Luke Buerckner was back to his best winning 3 sets and was heard to state he is clearly the best tennis player in his family. 

For Speculation Al Angwin, Jason Partelle and Corey Beggs won 2 sets. Special mention to Jayden Arnold who debuted in the competition and looks to be a star of the future.

St Gwinear had a 5 set to 1 win over Buffalo in a strong display. For St Gwinear John Brunner and Michael Mills won 3 sets each whilst Wei Wong and Brad Sneddon had 2 victories. 

Buffalo’s only set was won by Andrew Brew and Daniel Herrod in the final match of the night where they defeated their opposition 6/1.

Stirling and Buller’s match finished in pitch black with some very long and close sets despite Stirling winning 5-1. Best for Stirling were the undefeated Macka White and Lochie Forge whilst Mike Lairson and Jason Bassett won 2 sets. 

For Buller Liam Williams and Trent Head won their own only match in a tiebreaker. Shane Forge will remember the night for all the wrong reasons after being on the losing end to each set against son Lochie.

With one week left the ladder is Wellington 59, Bogong 50, Hotham 48, Howitt 47, Baw Baw 44, Stirling 40, St Gwinear 40, Buffalo 28, Feathertop 27, Buller 27, Speculation 24.

Thursday Ladies

The ladies competition has one more week remaining and it appears it is a very even event. It is great to see many of the junior stars playing in this competition and this is good for the future of the club.

The first match of the night saw the top team play the bottom team. As evidence of the evenness of the competition Happy and Bashful could not be separated at the end of the night. They were even on sets 3 all and even on games 24 all which is quite incredible. 

The star of the night for Happy was Win Win Htwe who won all 3 of her matches. For Bashful Amy Lairson, Loz Wallace and fill in Max Loughnan won 2 matches apiece. 

Grumpy and Sneezy also had a really close encounter with both teams winning 3 sets each. Grumpy were victors on the night winning by 4 games 26-22. Best on court was Grumpy’s Lucy Bassett who won her three matches. For Sneezy Chris Carr, Chris Hawkins and Lorraine Dean each claimed 2 victories. 

Dopey and Sleepy didn’t really live up to their team names with both teams playing in a very energetic fashion. On the night Dopey were to strong winning 5 sets to 1. For Dopey Ellen Bruce and Angela Mitchell both won three sets and Norma Toms and new club member Leah Dridan winning two sets. Lisa Thompson and Barb Phibbs won Sleepy’s set for the night with a 6-5 win.

After Round 9 the ladder is Happy 44, Dopey 42, Sneezy 38, Grumpy 31, Sleepy 27, Doc 26 and Bashful 15.