IT WAS a grand celebration when the Nyah West’s Grand Hotel side claimed the Swan Hill 8-Ball Association premiership over Swan Hill Club 1 on Wednesday night.
The Grand turned the tables on the same side that downed them in the 2012 grand final when it got up 4-2 in a tense encounter at Swan Hill Club.
Six games of singles — played of the best of three frames — were required to determine the winner, with the grand final not needing to go into the doubles stage.
A tense last game was eventually won by Nyah’s Adam Boehm in the third frame.
Association president Clinton Hucker said the night had been appropriately tense for a season decider.
“Nyah got the first two games in front before Swan Hill Club fought their way back and got a couple of games themselves,” Hucker said.
“It was all decided in the last game of the night.”
If Boehm had not won the third frame of his game, the grand final would have progressed to doubles competition after a tense singles section.
Hucker said the premier team of 2013 had been the favourite for most of the season.
“Nyah had only lost two ties for the year from a 22 round season,” he said.
Both sides are seasoned outfits that have played plenty of finals in recent years, too.
The tone was set early on when Nyah’s Tom Nikolis and Swan Hill Club’s Geoff McIndoe had a tense three-frame battle for supremacy.
Nikolis claimed victory in a “really good, nail-biter of a game”, Hucker said.
Anyone interested in picking up a pool cue next season can first gauge the standard of competition at an 8-ball tournament at Swan Hill Club on November 9.
The event is open to anyone with names currently being taken at the venue.
The competition will be played under World Rules, with a $5 entry fee and the winner to take all.
