GRAY and Curlewis battled out a great contest in Swan Hill tennis pennant on Saturday.
Curlewis won nine sets to eight, but Gray got home by six games — 110 to 104 — to take premiership points for the match.
Curlewis nearly snatched victory when its women — Melissa Snyder, substitute Janelle Hogan, Sarah Young and Teagan Mays — went through their sets undefeated.
However the Gray girls managed to scrape together enough games to stay in the contest, with substitute Melita Sartori’s efforts in a pair of six game sets a great outcome.
The men had some quality sets, starting the day with two tie breaks.
Curlewis’ Chris Lewin and Brendan Angus beat John Wardle and Trevor Holt in the first, but Gray struck back when Christian Devlin and Ron Fatt scored over Craig Roberts and Cooper Angus.
Gray went on the rampage with four wins in succession, with Spencer McKenzie and Bruce McDowall dominating.
Max Carroll pulled two back for Curlewis — one with Roberts and the next with Brendan Angus, but Wardle finished the day with a narrow 8-6 win in the singles, sending Gray into the mixed with a three game lead.
Only three games separated the sides in the mixed sets.
Devlin and Sartori got Gray away to a good start, but Curlewis came back strongly with wins to Ben Lewin and Hogan, and to Cooper Angus and Young, putting the Curlewis team in front for the first time.
However McDowall showed all his experience in the final set when he and Regina Warne were far too strong for the young Curlewis pair, and retrieved the lead at the right time for Gray.
McCallum showed the advantage of putting an unchanged line-up on the court, when its men dominated proceedings against Campbell, and posted a 20 game margin, while Beveridge came down to earth with a thud, when McCrae handed out a 28 game thumping.
In the last game of the round, Stradbroke posted its first win for the season, beating Splatt by 18 games.
McCallum has stormed away to a handy lead on the premiership table, with Beveridge and McCrae locked together in a battle for second and third.
Gray sits close behind in fourth place, with Curlewis one point up on Stradbroke in fifth and sixth spots.
Splatt and Campbell bring up the rear, with neither side able to post a win so far.
