THREE of the four matches in Saturday’s round of Swan Hill tennis pennant were in doubt right to the end of the day.
In the fourth, Splatt beat Stradbroke by 24 games.
Gray and Curlewis battled until the final point, and finished the day tied on 106 games apiece.
Gray took the premiership points with a one set advantage, nine sets to eight.
Gray’s men put together a 16 game margin, with Darren Hender and Brendan Blackmore leading the way on three wins each.
Ron Fatt and Bruce McDowall won two and went down in tiebreaks in their mixed sets, and Christian Devlin also posted two wins and a tiebreak loss.
Max Carroll was the best of the Curlewis men, and Ben and Anthony Lewin both showed good form, expecially in the mixed.
Curlewis made up ground in the women’s sets, where Kelly Mullan and Teagan Mays were outstanding.
Sarah Young won two sets.
Colleen Grant and Milly Saville won Gray’s only set, with Saville and Elise Morrison going down in a hard-fought tiebreak to Young and Mays.
At the start of the mixed, Gray led by six games, and added three more when Blackmore and Grant won the first set.
Curlewis steamed home, winning the last three — Ben Lewin and Mullan, Anthony Lewin and Young and Daniel Hughes and Mays all won, leveling the match.
Unfortunately for Curlewis, it only had eight wins, with Gray squeaking home by one set.
In another fantastic match, Beveridge only won eight sets but took the match by one game from McCrae.
McCrae’s men built up a three game lead, with Marcus McCaig and Paul Bethune in top form.
Both won their three sets, Richard Wardle won two, and Danny Gardner, after a day long struggle with Matt Witney, finished three games up.
Beveridge squared the match in the women’s sets.
Jacqui Brooks and Narelle Maeder won the first for Beveridge, Jo O’Meara and Sheryl Miceli pulled the margin back to one for McCrae in the next, and Beveridge won two tie-breaks, gaining a three game lead.
Brooks and Carolyn Willox beat Natalie Plant and O’Meara, and Maeder and Pauline Halligan just pipped Janet Barnard and Miceli.
McCrae started the mixed in style, when Rick and Natalie Plant won 8-3, and Bethune and Barnard scraped home in a tie-break over Justyn Moser and Maeder.
Beveridge took charge in the last two sets, when Vaughn Catton and Willox won 8-3, and Rick Hogan and Halligan scored 8-6 to give Beveridge the narrowest possible win.
McCallum and Campbell went hard at it for the entire day, with McCallum winning nine sets, 109 games to Campbell’s eight sets, 108 games.
McCallum’s men got away to a seven game lead.
Brad Nolan won his three sets, with great support from two set winners, Craig Bath, Kieran Mays, Julie Wardle and Pat Livingston.
Campbell’s Jake Nalder won three, and Rick Austerberry and Darren Barnes won two apiece.
The women finished the day tied on 27 games.
Campbell started with a bang, winning the first two sets through Louisa Frost and Pam Austerberry, who scored in a tiebreak from Vicki Nalder and Jess Worner, and Bridie Gardner and Ash Roberts who won 8-4.
McCallum’s turn came in the next two sets.
Nalder and Marie Giddings won 8-6, and Worner and Maddi Moser scored an 8-5 victory.
Campbell won the last three mixed sets, after Nolan and Vicki Nalder were successful for McCallum in the first.
Campbell’s Jake Nalder and Pam Austerberry, Rick Austerberry and Gardner and Barnes and Roberts picked up six of the seven games needed, but McCallum had just enough margin to hold on for its one game victory.
Splatt’s men were instrumental in gaining the vital break to give it control of the match against Stradbroke.
Splatt went on to record a 24 game win.
Christian Starrs, Brett Pekin and Glenn McKissack led the way for Splatt, with Colin Free and Tim Croft also in top form.
The five players all won three sets, and Stradbroke never recovered from the set-back.
Alan Thompson and Neil Selleck won the only men’s set for Stradbroke, and went close in their other two sets, and Luke Morrison improved as the day progressed, to lose his singles in a close 8-6 match.
Stradbroke’s women sliced 10 games off the margin, with Rebecca Grey and Julie Croton winning as a pair, and sharing wins with Colleen Rundell-Gordon and Chrissy Hendry.
Angela Smith and Andrea Mays won for Splatt.
Splatt won the battle of the mixed by one game, after winning three sets.
Ken Grisdale and Smith, Mark Bonney and Mays and Croft and Rachel Evans were successful for the winners.
Tony Evans and Bec Grey won well for Stradbroke.
McCallum reclaimed top spot, with McCrae dropping to second.
Gray moved closer to the top in third place, and Splatt replaced Stradbroke in the top four.
Stradbroke dropped to fifth, and Curlewis , Beveridge and Campbell remained in sixth to eighth places, with Beveridge moving up to challenge Curlewis in the next round.
Swan Hill Lawn Tennis Club will hold its Christmas party for players, family and friends next Saturday after the matches.
The jolly red man will be in attendance for the children, and a very enjoyable evening is planned for everyone.
