Yarrawonga Lawn Tennis Club’s Easter Tournament reached 1200 entries 36 hours after opening. This was incredible but not unexpected as similar tournaments in Euroa and Warrnambool also reached capacity at a similar speed.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
It was great to see the highly regarded event having so many local entries and especially a lot of juniors entering.
With a waiting list exceeding 400 people, the tournament is certainly one of the premier events on the tennis calendar.
Juniors are back
Saturday morning juniors resumed on the weekend. The numbers of kids playing tennis continues to grow with around 240 juniors participating on Saturday.
The Hot Shots and coaching groups continue to really enjoy their programs.
The junior coaches are doing a terrific job guided by club coach Greg Duns in making the sessions enjoyable. Icy poles are always a hit at the end of the sessions.
There was a large group of players undertaking match play. The standard was terrific and it was great to see the extended rallies from these players.
Group winners on the day were Flynn Cox, Jack Carmichael, Tyler Buerckner, Riley Wallace, Ernie Buerckner, Taylor Lewis and Ed Withers.
Junior Premier League
On Saturday morning the expanded Premier League competition commenced. On the back of the event held late last year this season, there is a boys division and a girls division.
Each competition has four teams of six players. Each player completes a singles and 2 doubles matches each morning with wins going towards their team.
In the first match in the boys section Sherbies had a 7 sets to 5 win over Minties. For Sherbies Harry Wren and Wil Anderson won all of their matches.
Freckles proved too strong for Smarties winning their rubber 9 sets to 3. For Freckles Tague Saunders, Jack Smith, Theo Vodusek and Anthony Niuwenhout won all of their sets.
The ladder after Round 1 is Freckles 11, Sherbies 9, Minties 5 and Smarties 3.
In the girls section Killer Pythons had a great day out winning 10 sets to 2 against Wizz Fizz. Three set winners for the pythons were Isabel Hargreaves and Demi Rhodes.
Red Rippers had close battle winning 7 sets to 5 over the Frogs. Indicating the closeness of the competition there was no one who won 3 matches.
The ladder after Round 1 is Killer Pythons 12, Red Rippers 9, Frogs 5 and Wizz Fizz 2.
Next week the matches will be Minties versus Smarties and Sherbies versus Smarties in the boys section. In the girls division it will be Killer Pythons versus Frogs and Red Rippers versus Wizz Fizz.
Thursday Night Ladies
The extremely popular Thursday night ladies commenced a new season last week. This competition will last for six weeks.
It was great to see so many new players and the usual regulars taking the court. The conditions were challenging with the wind causing havoc.
England has a close battle with Argentina winning 3 sets to 2 with the final set being abandoned. Tess Bassett was player of the night with 3 wins. Best for Argentina was Norma Toms with 2 victories.
Croatia and Portugal also won 3 sets to 2 with one match not finished. Gert Brunner was undefeated and played some excellent tennis.
France won 4 sets to 2 against Brazil. Loz Wallace was the best on court being undefeated and she was ably supported by Amy Lairson and Jodie Hobson with 2 sets. For Brazil Chris Hawkins won 2 sets.
Netherlands had a great battle with Morocco and finished the night drawn on sets.
Netherlands were declared the winners by 2 games. Narelle Bassett won all of her sets for Netherlands. For Morocco Maddy Allan, Kirsty Skene and Jerry Browning had 2 wins.
The ladder after the first round is France 6, Croatia 6, Netherlands 5, England 4, Morocco 3, Argentina 3, Portugal 3, Brazil 2.
Fast Four Wednesday
One of the newest programs Fast Four Wednesday resumed last week. This is designed to get people back to the club or to get new people down to the club.
The atmosphere was terrific with a lot of friendly banter being exchanged. The night then concluded with pizza and a drink to analyse the night.
Fast Four continues this week and new teams are welcome. Three sets of doubles tennis for each player ensures no one feels too sore the following day.
Wilby Tennis Association
After a long break for the festive season the Wilby Tennis Association returned over the weekend. This is a unique association allowing a range of ages and abilities to play in a mixed team environment.
Mulwala Gold hosted Wilby on Friday night. Mulwala Gold’s men continued to be extremely strong winning 6 sets to 0.
Damian Cook, Sean Robinson, Jason Cox and Joe Linehan all were in good form winning 3 sets. Mulwala’s ladies also won their division 4 sets to 2. For Mulwala Emily Linehan won all her matches whilst Beth Robinson and Jess Linehan had 2 wins.
Amy Lairson was Wilby’s best with 2 victories. Mulwala won the mixed 4 sets to 0 to claim the night 8 points to Wilby’s 0.
Tungamah Green took on Mulwala Maroon with Tungamah’s men in ruthless form winning all of the sets. Josh Buerkcner, Tom Wren, Luke Buerckner and Lachlan Wren all played well.
The result was repeated in the ladies with Jenny Buerkner, Kylie Buerckner, Libby Edis and Renee Wren victorious. The mixed also a clean sweep to Tungamah. Tungamah won on points 8 to 0 although as usual Mulwala Maroon won the points for the most social team.
Burramine and Savernake had a good hit on the grass courts. Some ring-ins for Burramine men all won their sets.
Andrew Beggs, Jamie Hicks, Kieran Kelly and Rob Evers all played well. Burramine also won the ladies division 4 sets to 2.
Lorraine Wallace won all of her matches whilst Tess Bassett and Kirsty Skene had 2 wins. For Savernake Ang Bruce had 2 victories. Savernake won the mixed 4 sets to 0 to take the points 8 to 0.
Tungamah Gold visited Telford for their match. Telford’s men were too strong with Craig Stevenson, Andrew Brew, Andrew Banks and Brett Lawrence all winning their matches.
The ladies were much more even with the sets split 3 apiece and incredibly the games were 27 all. Indicating the evenness none of the ladies won 3 sets although Emma Pearce, Sandra Banks, Debbie Hayes and Danielle Lawrence all won 2 sets.
Telford too strong in the mixed to claim the points 7 to 1 for the night.
The ladder after Round 8 is Telford 59, Burramine 58, Mulwala Gold 53, Tungamah Green 41, Tungamah Gold 33, Savernake 24, Mulwala Maroon 28 and Wilby 24.
Tuesday Night Mens
Another fantastic night of hitting by the men with the pizza going cold as most of the matches lasted that long indicating the evenness of the competition.
Pro Kennex had a battle with Slazenger with the sets split before Pro Kennenex won by 5 games. Slazenger’s John Arnold was best on court being undefeated. For the victors Jack Bassett, Luke Buerckner and Kieran Kelly won 2 sets.
Duns had the most comprehensive win of the night defeating Lacoste 5 sets to 1. Chris Page and Rob Zubin were the best players winning all of their sets.
Technifibre and Head had a nail biter with sets split and Technifibre winning by a single game.
Two set winners were Andrew Beggs, Jason Bassett, Pete Thomas and Corey Beggs. The highlight of the night was seeing Corey knock off his dad Andrew in a tie breaker.
Prince had a night out against Yonex winning 5 sets to 1. For the victors Ben Cope and Brad Sneddon were undefeated and Macka White and Andrew Banks had a pair of wins.
Volkl had a similar scoreline against ladder leader Wilson winning 5 sets to 1. For Volkl John Brunner and Simon de Oleivera won their sets and Thomas Loughnan and Lochie Forge had 2 wins.
Babolat also won 5 sets to 1 against Donnay. Club President Daryl Bennett lead from the front with Aaron Munn being undefeated. They were supported by team mates Cliff Nyguyen and Scott Jaques.
The ladder after Round 9 is Duns 43, Wilson 43, ProKennex 41, Technifibre 39, Volkl 37, Head 35, Lacoste 32, Babolat 30, Prince 28, Slazenger 24, Donnay 21 and Yonex 11.
Goulburn Murray Tennis
Yarrawonga’s contingent in the Numurkah Division 1 side all had excellent days of tennis. The men consisting of Jack Bassett, Grant Chappell and Jack Bassett each won all of their sets.
Lucy Bassett won her singles and doubles. This meant their team had a comprehensive win over Shepparton 9 sets to 3 locking in second place.
In Division 2, Tess Bassett won her mixed and doubles match to assist her team to a 9 sets to 3 win over Shepparton.
Yarrawonga Chronicle