THE big winners in round 11 of the Sunraysia Table Tennis pennant were Cooke’s Pools & Spas with a 6-5 victory over Tankard Dental.
They jumped from fifth to second on the ladder, pushing their opponents down to third
In a round where all results were 6-5, every position on the ladder changed, from second to fifth.
Cooke’s jumped out of the blocks early to take a 3-1 lead and later led 5-2.
The first match of the night was important and it was Cooke’s Casper McCarthy who remained calm to defeat the in-form Paul Kealley in a five-set battle, 11-3, 11-6, 6-11, 9-11, 11-5.
These teams are very even and in all there were six five-set matches.
The final five sets went to five, with Tankard’s taking three from four of these.
The one they needed badly almost went their way when skipper Reece Kurrle took a two-sets-to- love lead over Cooke’s Kate Carmichael.
The match then took a turn and Carmichael was able to work her way back into the match with a good mix of attack and defence.
The match went to a fifth with some amazing long rallies.
Kurrle, in particular, was pounding his forehand but Carmichael was able to defend and go on to win 11-13, 9-11, 11-,7 11-4, 11-5.
Carmichael won three singles, with teammates Casper McCarthy and Russell Walder winning one each. Walder’s five-set win over the talented Thanh Nguyen was a match winner.
Ladder leader Mallee Bearings recovered from a 2-4 deficit against Choices Flooring Mildura to score a narrow 6-5 victory and have now opened up a 14-point break at the head of the ladder.
The highlight match was the singles between the association’s best two players when Joel Thomas met Wayne Carmichael.
Carmichael turned back the clock in the first, playing excellent table tennis to win 11-3.
The second was a beauty, with both players trading excellent forehands.
Carmichael led 10-9 late but the super-cool Thomas took the game 12-10.
He then controlled the third to win 11-4.
Again, in the fourth it was close and the standard lifted.
Thomas was able to win this close one 13-11 in what had been an outstanding match for the spectators.
Thomas received excellent support from teammate Liam Wood, who won two singles, while Daniel Jansen teamed up with Thomas to win the vital second doubles when their team was under extreme pressure.
Bottom-of-the-ladder Regional Taxation Services enjoyed their second win of the season at the expense of fourth-placed Weightman’s Packaging, who they had also defeated in round 1.
Both teams required a fill-in and the match was close all the way.
The first doubles proved to be huge.
The Weightman’s pair of Jackson Tung and Liam Wood started well, taking the first two games narrowly, and when they took a 7-2 lead in the third it looked all over.
However, the RTS duo of Andrew Cannard and Mark Ljubic would not lie down and in an amazing fightback they grabbed the third and then proceeded to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, winning 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6.
Later in the match Weightman’s skipper Jackson Tung won his third singles to enable his team to go to a 5-4 lead.
Two excellent five-set matches followe,d with Tung’s teammate Lee Leeson taking the first two games against Edi Re before Re steadied and for the second time RTS had recovered from a 0-2 deficit to win in five – an outstanding comeback from Re.
The score now stood at five rubbers all.
RTS skipper Andrew Cannard then stepped up against fill-in Liam Wood and again another long five-setter took place.
Teammates were on the edges of their seats as many long rallies took place before Cannard proved too steady, winning 5-11, 11-7, 11-2, 6-11, 11-6.
This had been an excellent 6-5 victory by Regional Taxation Services.
PENNANT 1 LADDER
Mallee Bearings 37
Cookes Pools & Spas 23
Tankard Dental 23
Choices Floors 23
Weightman’s Packaging 20
Regional Taxation Services 9
Sunraysia Table Tennis 2024 Winter Pennant results Round 11
PENNANT 1
Cookes Pools & Spas 6 (Kate Carmichael 3, Casper McCarthy, Russell Walder 1) d Tankard Dental 5 (Reece Kurrle 2, Thanh Nguyen, Paul Kealley 1);
Mallee Bearings 6 (Joel Thomas 3, Liam Wood 2) d Choices Flooring Mildura 5 (Wayne Carmichael 2), Leon Brown, Ed Hung 1);
Regional Taxation Services 6 (Andrew Cannard 2, Edi Re, Mark Ljubic 1) d Weightman’s Packaging 5 (Jackson Tung 3, Liam Wood 2).
PENNANT 2
Choices Flooring Mildura 7 (Jason Gifkins 3, Kevin Johns 2, Harry Gujral 1) d Weightman’s Packaging 4 (Quentin Clark 2, Mark Cleary 1);
Pinnacle Packers 7 (John Fitzpatrick 3, Peter Midgley 2, Andrew Jones 1) d Cookes Pools & Spas 4 (Marcus Cimino 2, Tom Morrison 1);
Mallee Meats 6 (Ashley Morrison 3, Rasin Bhuiyan, David Sergi 1) d Mallee Bearings 5 (Jamie Kealley, Josh Arnold 2).
PENNANT 3
Sammy’s Slammers 8 (James Jarvis 3, Nhat Dat, Koby Grace 2) d Exposed Signage/Apparel 3 (Marita Grace 2);
Mallee Meats 6 (Karly Leach, Hamish Smyth 2) d Regional Taxation Services 5 (Sam Campbell 3, Sabrina Fitzpatrick, Peter Fitzpatrick 1).
PENNANT 4
Dunkley Scales 11 (Tom Gilmour, Deegan Kerslake, Ted Cleary 3) d Weightman’s Packaging 0;
Mallee Meats 7 (Maria Starikov 3, Jenny Leach 2) d Tankard Dental 4 (Derek Hung 2, Nathan Beard, Conner Burnett 1).
