LAKE Meran has broken a 15-year drought, winning the Loddon Valley Tennis Association grand final against St Pat’s Greens, in a nail-biter to the end.
After the executive committee consulted with all the teams in the Loddon Valley Tennis Association, Lake Meran was thrilled to host their first grand final.
While it was an extremely challenging day due to the heat, all players performed well and supporters were witness to some very competitive matches.
In the men’s doubles, Greens’ top three players, Ben Taylor, Sam Taylor and Jason Williams, played very consistent tennis against Lake Meran’s Nick Stogiannis, Tim and Justin Robinson to take a slight lead. All men demonstrated amazing court coverage and hit some spectacular winners during their sets.
In contrast it was Lake Meran’s Carl Chamberlain, Darren Sutherland and Troy Robinson who overpowered Greens’ Greg Adams, Adrian Crellin and Kel Adams to give Lake Meran the upper hand. There were many rallies involved during these matches as well as great shot placement.
In the ladies matches, Greens’ top three players, Logan Tuohey, Steph Anderson and Pam Adams proved too strong for Lake Meran’s Karina Bloomfield, Vikki Moresi and Jane Hosking. These matches provided numerous rallies and multiple deuces in the majority of games, with some terrific shot placement to finish off the points.
Once again, in contrast, it was Lake Meran’s Bec Hewitt, Helen Simpson and Grace Hosking who outplayed Greens’ Cathy Short, Shannon Knight and Lauren Adams to come out on top. Rallies and deuces were also on the menu for these ladies’ matches, with patience being the key to the win.
Lake Meran won the men’s doubles by seven games and Greens won the ladies by 2 games, giving Lake Meran a 5-game lead going into the mixed doubles.
The ‘fun’ began here, with both sides anxious over every set being played, trying from the sidelines to keep the scores, hoping their team was winning. It was hard to gauge who was in front in any match as the rallies were continuous due to every player being determined to play hard to the end.
After the first three matches came off Lake Meran had a 12-game lead, but it only took two more matches for Green’s to bring the lead back to five games with the last set playing.
All the spectators were on tenterhooks as this match continued to play on. It was only when a tie-breaker was in action that Lake Meran realised they had won the grand final.
The final scores were Lake Meran 96 games to St Pat’s Greens 92 games.
