Ed Mulquinney eyes the ball as he stretches to play this forehand volley.
Photo by
Les_Garbutt
After a very wet start to the season, the Wilby Association finally started after missing the first three rounds. The fourth-round clashes produced some excellent tennis considering many hadn’t swung a racquet since last season.
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On Friday night, reigning premiers Tungamah Green hosted Burramine on the bursting banks of the Boosey Creek.
Tungamah Green certainly look to be the team to beat and are short priced favourites to go back to back. In the men’s section, Tungamah won 5 sets to one with veterans Josh Buerkner and Tom Wren undefeated for the night.
In the ladies the score line was reversed with Burramine claiming 5 sets to 1. For Burramine Lucy Bassett and Loz Wallace won 3 sets.
Tungamah asserted their authority in the mixed sets to claim 3 of the 4 sets. Overall Tungamah claimed the night by 12 games. This meant Tungamah Green claimed 6 points and Burramine 2 points.
The second Friday match saw Mulwala Gold host Savernake. This was an epic encounter and one of the closest matches in the Wilby Association’s history.
The men shared the sets 3 all with Mulwala Gold claiming victory by a solitary game. Damon Cook from Mulwala won all 3 sets with three Jayden Arnold, Jason Arnold and Aaron Munn winning 2 each for Savernake.
The ladies’ was also unbelievably close with Savernake winning on sets 4-2 but on games by only 1. Reigning best and fairest winner Georgie Bruce started off in great form to win 3 sets. To finalise the night the mixed was another incredible night with each team winning 2 sets each and Mulwala Gold winning by a game.
Overall Mulwala won more sets on the night, lost overall by a game and claimed 2 points. Savernake won less sets, overall won by a game and claimed 6 points. It couldn’t have been any closer.
The final Friday night saw Telford host Mulwala Maroon. On the best grass courts in Australia, the tennis played was of a high standard.
Telford’s men started strongly to claim all 6 sets with Craig Stevenson, Andrew Brew, Andrew Banks and Brett Lawrence all playing well. The lady’s section was extremely close with each team winning 3 sets with Mulwala winning by 5 games. None of the ladies claimed 3 wins reiterating how close the contest was.
Telford finished the night by winning all of the mixed sets. Therefore for the night Telford claimed 6 points and Mulwala Maroon finished with 2.
On Saturday the fierce rivals Tungamah Gold played Wilby in the second match of the weekend at Tungamah. Both teams had many juniors playing which is terrific and ensures the longevity of the competition.
In the men’s division Wilby won 4 sets to 2 with Craig Prescott winning all of his sets.
The perennially strong ladies of Tungamah all played well to win 5 sets. For Tungamah Debbie Hayes and Jenny Buerckner won all of their matches.
The mixed was a very close affair with 2 sets won by both teams before a countback saw Tungamah winning by 2 games. Overall for the day Tungamah Gold won by 4 games and to claim 6 points to Wilby’s 2.
The ladder after Round 4 is Tungamah Green 18, Tungamah Gold 18, Telford 18, Savernake 18, Burramine 14, Mulwala Maroon 14, Mulwala Gold 14, Savernake 14.
This week Burramine play Savernake, Mulwala Maroon take on Tungamah Green, neighbours Tungamah Gold play Telford and on Sunday Wilby host Mulwala Gold.
Saturday Morning Juniors
Emily Moar enjoying Saturday morning tennis hits a forehand.
Photo by
Les_Garbutt
The word about tennis continues to spread with the Saturday morning program enrolling the 230th player during the week. The growth of the program has Club Coach Greg Duns excited about the future of the club.
Greg continues to work with the junior coaches to develop sessions that will engage the participants.
Both the Hot Shots and coaching groups have improved during the first two sessions they have had to date. Parental involvement is essential, and it is great to see this support through collecting balls or feeding balls to the players.
With an amazing 64 kids in attendance for matches, organisers Lisa Linehan and Narelle Bassett did a great job getting everyone on court in a timely manner. It is essential that players register prior to 8.50 am.
There were two different types of competitions. The older players played 2 doubles and a singles match.
The players that won their group using this format were Ian Dimble, Anthony Niuewenhout, James Cummins, Wil Anderson, Jackson Prosser, Finnin George, Demi Rhodes, Lucy Judd and Billie Prestage. The younger players completed 3 sets of doubles with group winners being Elli Buerckner, Natalie Linehan, Emily Moar, Ed Mulquiney, Tague Saunders and Finn Bruce.
This week the Premier League will start involving 4 teams of 6 players. This is a 3-week competition for the more experienced Saturday morning players.
Junior Tournament
This weekend the club hosts the annual Yarrawonga Challenge. This tournament will welcome players from around Victoria and New South Wales. Local juniors Ian Dimble, Tess Bassett and Lachlan Wren have all entered. Good luck to these players and it is hoped they have an enjoyable weekend.
North East Veterans Tournament
On Sunday Euroa hosted their tournament as part of the North East Veterans circuit. In conditions perfect for tennis, the sunscreen certainly was needed.
Yarrawonga was well represented with some excellent results. Gert Brunner, Ellen Bruce, Amy Lairson and John Brunner each won their card against some strong opposition. Mike Lairson finished second in his group and Anna Castles took home the bronze medal.
The next tournament is this Sunday in Wodonga. Players have to be over the age of 30 to play.
Goulburn Murray Association
With the club unable to secure enough players to enter a team in the Goulburn Murray Association many of the club’s stronger players are playing at Numurkah.
After many rounds being washed out, the third season commenced on the weekend. With Shepparton and Numurkah’s courts out of action both Numurkah sides played at Cobram.
In Division 1 defending champions Numurkah won easily against Shepparton. Lucy Bassett played very well to win her singles, doubles and mixed.
Grant Chappell won both his doubles and mixed. Jack Bassett won his doubles match and lost his singles match.
In Division 2 Tess Bassett debuted for Numurkah against Shepparton. She showed that she will be an asset to the side winning her singles, doubles before a narrow loss in mixed.
Fast Four is back
Unfortunately the first week of Fast Four was washed out. The competition will therefore start this Wednesday evening commencing at 6pm. The aim of the competition is to be social with the idea to bring people to the club that haven’t previously played on a regular basis or haven’t had a hit for a while.
Spectators including kids are more than welcome. This will certainly ensure a great atmosphere. The Fast Four Tennis will be fun with teams pitted against line-ups of similar abilities.
At the conclusion of the night pizza will be supplied and the bar will be open to continue the socialisation process.
At this stage there are 18 teams locked in and there is room for another couple of teams to enter to fill the complex to capacity.
Thursday Ladies Tennis
Thursday night ladies competition organisers Gert Brunner and Narelle Bassett have recruited well to ensure another great season. This season there will be 8 teams of four battling for supremacy. The season will be between November 10 and December 15. Another short season will follow after the Christmas break.
The beauty of this competition is it caters for all ages and abilities. As number 1 players the competition includes local legends Angela Mitchell, Ellen Bruce, Sandra Heaney, Win Win Htwe, Amy Lairson, Gert Brunner and Erin York.
These experienced players will be competing against young guns Lucy Bassett, Jess Linehan, Trinity Hobson, Hayley Bennett and Tess Bassett.
The competition also includes players of a high calibre who may be a bit rusty early on in the season but always are worthy tennis companions.
This group includes Kirsty Skene, Jerry Browning, Norma Toms, Kylie James, Lorraine Dean, Chris Hawkins, Loz Wallace, Narelle Bassett, Michelle Cox, Linsey Franklin and Kirsten Williams.
New players Jodie Hobson, Emily Parsons, Kate Porter, Jo Ryan, Lisa Ramadge, Maddy Allan, Vicky Horton and Catherine Marriott will be watched closely.
Fill-ins are regularly sought, and names can be added to the fill-in list without the obligation of playing each week.
Tuesday Men’s Tennis
The Tuesday Men’s competition commenced this week. Full results including a report of any first-round injuries will appear next week.
Rock up and play sessions
The YLTC holds social aggregate style tennis at four different times during the week. Each of these events provide the opportunity for new players to come and trial tennis prior to committing to becoming a member.
The main aggregate night is Friday night and this commenced last week. There were three courts of players with Club Captain happy with the numbers first up. To have a hit on a Friday night simply turn up at 6pm.
The other times where anyone can simply sign-in on the day are Saturday at 1pm for all players, Tuesday morning commencing at 9.30 for the ladies and Wednesday at 1pm for the men’s social hit. There is no compulsion to attend each of these on a weekly basis although once you have tried it once it will be hard to not keep going back.
