MALLEE Bearings were defeated for the first time at the hands of Regional Taxation Services in round 11 of the Sunraysia table-tennis winter pennant last week.
The RTS trio of Matt Ljubic, Thahn Nguyen and fill-in Ash Morrison proved to be too consistent, winning three, two and one singles respectively to topple the ladder leaders.
The Bearings team took a narrow 3-2 lead only for their opponents then to win the next five matches in succession eventually winning 7-4.
Regional Taxation Services No.3 fill-in Morrison played a key role the victory in a busy night as he also played his matched in pennant 2.
His second match was against the experienced Mark Dorman and after dropping the first game 8-11 Morrison was outstanding winning the next three games 11-9 11-7 11-6.
Later in the second doubles, Morrison teamed up with skipper Ljubic to recover from a 0-2 deficit to win in five sets against Gavin Carmichael and Rohan Reimers.
The following two matches saw Ljubic defeat Carmichael in four sets and then Nguyen recovered from 0-2 down to win in five sets over Mark Dorman an excellent team performance by Regional Taxation Services.
Cookes Pools & Spas had a 7-4 win over Weightmans Packaging to maintain second position on the ladder by a narrow percentage.
Joel Thomas again controlled the match as only he can do winning three singles and taking part in both doubles victories.
With the scores at 5-3 in favour of Cookes, Thomas’s teammates Lee Leeson and Russell Walder scored important victories in the final two singles.
In the final match Tankard Dental snatched victory from the jaws of defeat over Max Miller Carpets winning 6-5.
After an excellent five-set victory in the second doubles by Carpeters pair Kate Carmichael and Leon Brown over Wayne Carmichael and Paul Kealley the score stood at 5-3 in the Carpeters’ favour.
Tankard’s Wayne Carmichael then played Kate Carmichael and it was Kate who grabbed the early ascendancy in a close encounter winning two of the first three games and then in the fourth she held two match points leading 10-8.
However her uncle Wayne would not go away, taking the fourth 12-10 in a great recovery and then he moved away to take the fifth 11-5.
Tankard’s trailed 4-5 and stormed home to win the final two matches to snatch the four points.
Tankard’s Jackson Murphy was too consistent for Leon Brown winning in straight sets and then teammate Paul Kealley recovered from a 0-2 deficit to defeat Liam Wood in an exciting climax.
Round 11 results:
PENNANT 1: Cookes Pools & Spas 7 (Joel Thomas 3, Lee Leeson, Russell Walder 1) d Weightmans Packaging 4 (Jackson Tung 2, Reece Kurrle, Ed Hung 1); Tankard Dental 6 (Wayne Carmichael 3, Jackson Murphy, Paul Kealley 1) d Max Miller Carpets 5 (Kate Carmichael 2, Leon Brown, Liam Wood 1); Regional Taxation Services 7 (Matt Ljubic 3, Thanh Nguyen 2, Ashley Morrison 1) d Mallee Bearings 4 (Gavin Carmichael 2, Rohan Reimers 1)
PENNANT 2: Mallee Bearings 6 (Jamie Kealley 3, Marcus Cimino, David Sergi 1) d Cookes Pools & Spas 5 (Ashley Morrison, Josh Arnold 2); Weightmans Packaging 8 (Quentin Clark 3, Andrew Jones, Tom Morrison 2) d Mallee Meats 3 (Kevin Johns, Jordan Cole 1); Max Miller Carpets 8 (Jeremy Corrin, Daniel Jansen 3, John Fitzpatrick 2) d Pinnacle Packers 3 (Peter Midgley 1)
PENNANT 3: Exposed Signage/Apparel 6 (Levi Williams 2, Riley Clemence, Damen Southgate 1) d Weightmans Packaging 5 (Karly Leach 3, Sabrina Fitzpatrick 2); Tankard Dental 9 (Luca Capizzoto 3, Steve Pongrac, Steve Parker 2) d Mallee Meats 2 (Michael Smyth 2); Regional Taxation Services 5 (Shaun Gifford 3, Rodney Galvin 2) d Sammy’s Slammers 4 (Marita Grace 2, Nhat Dat 1)
PENNANT 4: Weightmans Packaging 7 (Chelsey Avers 3, Glenn Leeson 2, Gary Leach 1) d Mallee Meats 4 (Wendy Simpson 2, Tom Gilmour 1); Dunkley Scales 6 (Dianne Hannig, Katrina Clifford 2) d Tankard Dental 5 (Maria Starikov 3, Liam Nicolaou, Curtis Crabtree 1)
