PERENNIAL Country Week finalists Tandara avenged their defeat in last year’s Section 1 Women’s Tennis Victoria Country Week grand final, after recording a come from behind win over the Goulburn Murray Grinders to win this year’s title on Friday.
After falling two sets and three games behind, the now 17 times Country Week champions fought back through the middle stages of the tie, before finishing 1-27 to 2-24 winners.
The largely Bendigo based team is made up of sisters Jessica Millar, Bronwyn Osborne and Danielle Bowles, as well as Michelle Balic and Ruby Rothman.
It was the third title for the team of five in the four years since coming together prior to the 2022 Country Week tournament, the last hosted in Swan Hill, where they were first crowned champions.
Despite their success and longevity, the nerves were still present on Friday according to Danielle Bowles, who also gave special recognition to the youngest member of their team.
“Every time we play in a final it’s still nerve wracking,” Bowles told The Guardian on Friday.
“Every time is different and some of the girls that we play against say ‘oh you girls just win every time’, but we lost last year and every year they bring up new players that are stronger and harder to play against.
“It’s actually really good to see so many good, young players coming through and playing Country Week, but it’s a bit scary also.
“The Bush sisters are a great example, they can hit it hard, but Ruby (Rothman) hits it harder.
“She (Ruby) was the hardest hitting player here, but everyone contributed as a team and for us, one of the things we always say is that there are other teams that may have a few problems during the week, but we just don’t worry about the little things.
“When we’re playing doubles, if you’re down then it’s your teammates’ job to help pick you up, it really is a team effort.”
It was the first time since 2022 that the Tennis Victoria Country Week tournament returned to Swan Hill, with players from across the competition singing the praises of the Swan Hill Lawn Tennis & Croquet Clubs facilities and hosting ability.
That sentiment was shared by the the Tandara team, with Jessica Millar also singing the praises of Swan Hill as a whole.
“Swan Hill is unreal, all the courts are in the one location and you can walk to all the functions down the street from your accommodation, we just love coming here,” Millar said.
“The food, the courts, the club, the volunteers, everything, it’s just perfect.
“We enjoy the social aspect of country week as much as the tennis, there’s a lot of late nights and socialising.
“You have to do both when you come to country week, but it’s getting harder as we’re getting older.
“We just loving playing tennis together and going out together as a team.
“For us, it’s just good to get away from life for one week.
The men’s section 1 grand final went the way of team Espresso Martinis, who defeated reigning section 1 champions Lecontes, 2-23 to 1-15.
It was the first Country Week grand final defeat in four years for the Shepparton based Lecontes, with the team having won every men’s section 1 title since the previous Swan Hill tournament in 2022.
From a local perspective, the SH Magoos were the only victorious team, with the side defeating the Hay Barbarians in the grand final (2-24 to 1-18) to claim the men’s section 14 title.
The SH Magoos weren’t the only local representatives still competing on Friday however, with Swan Hill BS V2.0 playing off against team Happy Slappers in the men’s section 6 grand final.
After a slow start, Swan Hill never recovered, with the Happy Slappers running away with a 3-24 to 0-14 victory.
Also making their way through to the final was Swan Hill Figjam, who took on the Karra Bush Chicks in the women’s section 8 grand final, with the Karra Bush Chicks winning the title 2-23 to 1-15.
