A surprising number of players were unavailable and reserve players were hard to find.
Nonetheless, 60 players took to the courts on a balmy evening with the temperatures a pleasant 28ºC.
The courts were picturesque, and the heavy growth after the December renovation eventually began to slow down and the bounce was better than expected in the heavy cover of couch lawn.
The Deni Newsagency team captained by Georgia Denny and Michael Williams got their team off to a fine start, winning 14 sets 121 games against Mitre 10’s 12 sets 114 games.
One set divided the teams after 234 games and 26 sets of tennis.
In round one the results were shared four sets each while in round two Mitre 10 won six sets to four and started round three two sets ahead.
Newsagency came home with flying colours and won the third round six sets to two, and the match.
For Newsagency, Benjy Pisasale, Ash Hall and Henry Osborne were three set winners while Jemma Smith had an excellent evening for Mitre 10 winning her three sets.
Benjy was playing above his pay grade and bumped up against Jamie Chadderton.
It was good to see the return of Ash Hall to the courts, and the return to town of Henry Osborne after years away in Melbourne.
Welcome back to DLTC.
Three of the 26 sets were decided by the dreaded tie-break, which is played when game scores are locked at 5 all.
Mitre 10 lost two of the sets, which highlights how close Mitre 10 was to winning the evening.
In the match between Peppin Planners and Legal Eagles, Peppin must have done their planning.
They were convincing in 21 sets 139 games against the Eagles five sets 82 games.
Nine players for Peppin were three set winners.
There are many new faces among the players, and of course plenty of old stagers.
President Nick Metcalfe welcomed all the new players.
Nick also spoke of the Australia Day award for past tennis and squash player Maureen Fitzmaurice, who was a player but in recent years has been an administrator of the club.
Maureen keeps the history of the club and collects fees and maintains financial records each evening.
Thank you and well done Maureen.
8°C