GRAY and Beveridge produced one of the matches of the season on Saturday in
tennis pennant. Beveridge managed a five game victory, but Gray’s effort to win
11 sets made it the ‘tough luck’ story of the day.
Both sides fielded
substitutes, with Beveridge replacing Matt Witney with super-sub Danny Gardner,
and putting Bridget Curran in as a last-minute replacement for Jodi Storer, who
in turn was a fill-in for Lisa Pekin after her accident at country week. Evan
Wilson was Gray’s substitute for Gene Brooks.
Gardner and Julie Wardle got
the ball rolling for Beveridge, with a strong 8-5 win in the first doubles, but
Gray hit back with a tiebreak win to Chris Nalder and Vaughn Catton over Brett
Pekin and Alan Thompson — the first of six tiebreak sets for the day.
Colin
Free and Chris Hodgson won the third for Beveridge, with a comfortable 8-3
victory, but Derek MacFarlane and Darryl Roberts countered again for Gray,
securing a good 8-5 result. Gardner and Thompson won 8-7, and Pekin and Wardle
8-2 to give Beveridge a handy lead, and Gardner and Pekin backed up with a
strong 8-3 win. MacFarlane and Michael Shean scored yet another tiebreak win,
beating Trevor Rowlands and Free, before Gardner completed a powerful
performance in the singles. Beveridge finished the men’s sets with a lead of 20
games.
For more on last weekend’s tennis action, see Monday’s edition of The Guardian (18/2/13).
