The Yarrawonga Lawn Tennis Club would like to extend their gratitude to anyone that was able to help in relation to the flooding of the courts.
Last Tuesday it became apparent that the courts were going to be inundated with water and with the predicted peak to arrive on Thursday, the clubrooms were in jeopardy.
A late afternoon plea to assist sandbagging the rooms was met with an overwhelming response. The Tuesday ladies, led by Gert Brunner, ensured everything in the clubrooms was lifted off the floor.
Incredibly between 80-100 people were able to assist the sandbagging effort coordinated by Pete Thomas.
With additional support from members of the Yarrawonga Football Netball Club, the clubrooms were secured in less than two hours. A special thank you to the SES for their wonderful support and to Judds and Sons for supplying sand.
On Wednesday the hardcourts and eight grasscourts were covered with water and the fate of the clubrooms was looking dire. Fortunately the river peaked on Wednesday slightly lower than expected and by Thursday morning the water had all but vanished from the complex.
It did leave a mess especially on the hard-court area. On Friday unbeknown to anyone Damian McCarthy began the arduous task of sweeping the hard courts.
Members of the Moira Shire’s maintenance crew were driving past and kindly lent him an industrial blower vacuum that made the job somewhat easier. Damian’s efforts were certainly appreciated.
The Saturday morning parents assisted on mass to take the piles of rubbish off the hard courts and also to clean up the surround areas. The final piece of the puzzle was to remove the estimated 400 sandbags.
With Grant Lewis organising this process it was done easily within an hour.
Kristian Pitches from the local CFA then kindly washed the hard courts down with a tanker. This ensured that the courts are back to where they started.
During all this time the elite groundsman Warwick Henderson and Rob Payne had ensured that the recently flooded courts were playable both on Friday night and for the Saturday juniors.
The committee of the club are so grateful for everyone that was able to assist during the week. It reiterates what a tremendous community we live in.
Stars in town
Word quickly spread through Yarrawonga that some of Australia’s tennis royalty were in town for a weekend wedding. Seen regularly around the town was Australia’s number two ranked player Daria ‘Dasha’ Saville.
If that wasn’t exciting enough for tennis lovers, it was unbelievable that former world number one Ash Barty was also here. Ash Barty would be on the top of a majority of the Australian public’s favourite sportsperson for her amazing tennis career.
Some of the juniors (and older juniors) were fortunate to gain signatures and photos with their sporting heroes which was very exciting.
If anyone has any contacts, these stars would be more than welcome at the Easter Tournament. Now wouldn’t that be special.
Saturday morning tennis
With all parents working around them, it was fantastic to see the junior program in full swing on Saturday morning. It was certainly worth all the effort to see the continual smiles on the kids’ faces.
The Hot Shots players are rapidly improving and are really enjoying the drills that they undertake. The coaches Lucy, Tess and Emily are extremely impressed with the enthusiasm of the players and appreciate the support of the parents.
Any practice at home or even coming down to the courts midweek will only improve the skill of the players.
The numbers in the coaching groups were bursting at the seams and again the development has been immense.
Club Coach Greg Duns is passionate about continually improving the players and with coaches Jack, Jess, Mekaylah, Fraser, Ella and Laynee the skills are looking fantastic.
Some members of the coaching groups will be elevated to match play in the next few weeks.
With some courts out of action due to still being wet, the format of the match play was slightly different.
The players only played doubles this week and they were in groups of 6 per court meaning two players had a rest each match.
A match tiebreaker was played on court and with each player participating in 6 matches there was a lot of balls hit and some very close matches.
Leading players in their groups were Finn Bruce, Ed Mulquiney, Jack Bruce, Finn Angwin, Tom Conway, Jackson Prosser, Finnin George, Theo Vodusek, Ollie Bridgeman, Jasmine Ellis, Zali Mathison, Kendall Connell, Caitlin Brew and Emily Judd.
Premier League
The second week of Premier League produced some more outstanding tennis from the strongest Saturday morning juniors. In the Premier League there are 4 teams of 6 players and each player completes two doubles matches and a singles match.
In the first match Tomljanovic took on Kyrgios. The rubber produced some awesome tennis with Tomljanovic eventually winning 7 sets to 5.
Best on court was Tomljanovic’s Billie Prestage who played great tennis to win all 3 sets whilst teammates Ellie Buerckner, Ian Dimble and Noah Cox won 2 apiece.
For Kyrgios Lara Angwin and Harry Wren both won 2 sets each.
In the other match De Minaur had comfortable win over Saville 9 sets to 3. De Minaur’s victory was on the back of a strong display by their girls.
Maisee Pell, Summer Ibbott and Isabel Hargreaves all played all won each of their sets. Teammate James Cummins also won 3 sets.
Best for Saville was Max Loughnan and Tadhg Foran claiming 2 victories.
With one week to go the ladder is De Minaur 18, Tomljanovic 17, Kyrgios 16 and Saville 13. This Saturday Kyrgios will play Saville and Tomljanovic will take on De Minaur.
Wilby Tennis Association
Round 6 of the Wilby Tennis Association was played over the weekend. Unfortunately, the Boosey Creek was bursting its banks on Friday night which meant the much-anticipated clash between Tungamah Green and Tungamah Gold was cancelled.
Saturday’s match between Savernake and Mulwala Maroon was also washed out due to rain. Two matches were played, and these were both played in great spirit.
Burramine took on ladder leaders Mulwala Gold under lights at Mulwala. Mulwala’s men indicated their strength with a 4 set to 2 win.
Cam Carling was best on court for Mulwala winning 3 sets and he was supported by Jason Cox and Matt McLachlan with 2 wins. For Burramine, young gun Max Loughnan was the best with 2 victories.
In the ladies section Burramine had a clean sweep claiming all 6 sets. By winning all of their sets, Lucy Bassett, Tess Bassett, Kirsty Skene and Loz Wallace are starting to be formidable combination.
The mixed was split 2 sets all with Mulwala winning by a single game. Overall Burramine won the night on games with the points split 4 apiece.
Telford hosted Wilby on the grass courts in Yarrawonga on Friday night. Considering the events of the week this was quite amazing. Telford’s men had a night out, to win all 6 sets. Well done to Craig Stevenson, Andrew Banks, Andrew Brew and assisting the men Sandra Banks on their great form.
In the ladies section Telford were victors 4 sets to 2. Win Win Htwe was best on court winning 3 sets whilst Gert Brunner and Chris Hawkins won 2.
For Wilby Kayla Whinray played really well to win 2 sets.
With the lights unavailable for the mixed, it was a quick turn around and sets were played to four with Telford winning 3 sets to 1. Overall Telford claiming the 8 points for the evening.
The ladder after Round 6 is Telford 32, Mulwala Gold 30, Tungamah Green 26, Burramine 26, Tungamah Gold 24, Mulwala Maroon 22, Savernake 18 and Wilby 14.
Team Tennis Competitions
With the courts being out of action last week the midweek teams competition was cancelled. These will all be back this week with Tuesday Mens, Wednesday Social Fast Four and Thursday Ladies all promising to be fantastic nights.