LOCAL TENNIS with Donna Schoenmaekers
After early morning showers the skies cleared for Midweek this Tuesday and with finals looming, teams were out to make the most of their chances.
Section 1 still has two rounds to play after this week and while the final four is all but set, positions are far from settled with only two points between first and third.
Geelong Lawn pushed into second, overtaking Surfcoast Bellbrae, with a tough win over Moriac.
The first two sets were split with Fiona Blood and Charlotte Wilson winning 6-4 for the home team, before Bridget Laird and Karen Best put Lawn ahead by a game, winning 6-3.
Lawn then took the lead winning the third and fourth sets 6-4 and 7-5, before the teams split the final two sets giving Lawn the win four sets to two by only three games.
Bellbrae started well against fourth placed Highton with Marg Leigh and Colleen Battye winning a tight battle 7-5 and Miyo Fallshaw and Lyn Dillon pushing through for a 6-4 win.
Angela Sherlock and Kerry Browne started a Highton comeback with a 6-2 win backed by Jodie Connell and Raelene Pearce coming through 7-5, giving them a two-game buffer going into the final two sets.
Bellbrae had won the two previous encounters 4-2, however, Highton had other ideas when Sherlock and Pearce put them in front, winning 6-3 in the fifth, and Connell teamed with Annette Morgan to push Battye and Alison Lugg before eventually going down 7-5, but giving Highton the win by three games.
Ocean Grove upset ladder leaders Surfcoast Torquay at Torquay in gusty conditions.
The Grove got out of the blocks well with Susan Bissett combining with Judi Broad to win the first set 6-3, while Kate Lockhart and Mel Keating followed suit taking the second 6-3.
Simone Hobbs and Bronwyn Mitsfud proved too consistent in the third for Torquay winning 6-1, but Broad and Lockhart kept the Grove in front taking the fourth 6-3.
Lockhart sealed the win with Bissett 6-4 in the fifth with Lockhart winning her three sets while Torquay’s Mitsfud and Liz Scott kept the margin in check taking the last 6-3.
The win has Ocean Grove with a statistical chance of still making the four, however, with remaining matches against Geelong Lawn and Highton, it will take a massive effort.
Torquay, with a 4-2 loss, had its lead cut to only one point ahead of Geelong Lawn, so its final position will be dependent on how it plays against Moriac and Highton in the final two rounds.