Mallee Bearings, led by Joel Thomas who won three singles, proved too steady for Tankard Dental with a 7-4 win in round 10 of Sunraysia Table Tennis.
This victory avenged the defeat at the hands of Tankards in the first round of matches.
Thomas and his teammates Liam Wood and Daniel Jansen took both doubles, and in a classic match, Bearings’ No.2 Liam Wood recovered from a 0-2 deficit against Tankard skipper Reece Kurrle to win 4-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-4.
This was an excellent win by Wood and one of his best in his short pennant one career.
For Tankard Dental, No.3 Paul Kealley continued his very consistent season, again winning two singles, including a straight-sets win over Liam Wood in the first match of the night.
Mallee Bearings have now opened up a 10-point break at the top of the ladder with six rounds to play.
Weightman’s Packaging retained fourth place on the ladder with a solid 7-4 win over third-placed Choices Flooring Mildura.
Victory came despite Wayne Carmichael winning three singles in easy fashion.
As always, the doubles were crucial, and it was Weightman’s who won both in lengthy five-setters.
Weightman’s No.3 player Lee Leeson had an outstanding night, winning two singles as well as partnering Jackson Tung to win the second doubles.
Her four-set defeat of Ed Hung was a blow for the Choices team as Hung later defeated opposing No.2 Dylan Wood.
In an unusual statistic Leeson featured in Weightman’s final three victories to secure the four points for her team.
Her skipper, Jackson Tung, also enjoyed a solid night, winning two singles and taking part in both the doubles successes.
Cookes Pools & Spas enjoyed a 10-1 victory over the injury-depleted Regional Taxation Services combination.
Experienced campaigners Mark Ljubic and David Leng came in at late notice and the 1992 premiership teammates were able to reminisce on their past success; however, they ran into hot opposition on this occasion.
For Cookes, Kate Carmichael and Casper McCarthy won three singles.
McCarthy is usually a bash-and-crash exponent of the game but he showed excellent maturity against the experienced campaigners.
Teammate Russell Walder also played well, chipping in with two singles.
With his team at 0-10 Edi Re stepped up to the table against Walder and this was an outstanding five-set contest.
Walder took a two-games-to-one lead but Re fought back, winning 3-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9 to get his team on the board.
The washup of the round was that not one position changed on the ladder.
Results round 10:
PENNANT ONE:
Mallee Bearings 7 (Joel Thomas 3, Liam Wood 2) d Tankard Dental 4 (Paul Kealley 2, Reece Kurrle, Thanh Nguyen 1);
Cookes Pools & Spas 10 (Kate Carmichael, Casper McCarthy 3, Russell Walder 2) d Regional Taxation Services 1 (Edi Re 1);
Weightman’s Packaging 7 (Lee Leeson, Jackson Tung 2, Dylan Wood 1) d Choices Flooring Mildura 4 (Wayne Carmichael 3, Ed Hung 1)
PENNANT TWO:
Choices Flooring Mildura 9 (Jason Gifkins, Kevin Johns 3, Harry Gujral 1) d Mallee Meats 2 (Ashley Morrison, Rasin Bhuiyan 1);
Cookes Pools & Spas 8 (Tom Morrison 3, Marcus Cimino 2, Peter Fitzpatrick 1) d Weightman’s Packaging 3 (Quentin Clark 2, Brendan Alderton 1);
Pinnacle Packers 6 (Peter Midgley, John Fitzpatrick 2, Andrew Jones 1) d Mallee Bearings 5 (Jamie Kealley 3, Josh Arnold 1)
PENNANT THREE:
Weightman’s Packaging 6 (Ryan Peterson 3, Karly Leach 1) d Sammy’s Slammers 5 (James Jarvis, Nhat Dat 2, Hayden Wilson 1);
Mallee Meats 7 (Andrew Kremor 3, Hamish Smyth, Sam Campbell 1) d Exposed Signage/Apparel 4 (Sabrina Fitzpatrick Dave Tanner 2)
PENNANT FOUR:
Weightman’s Packaging 6 (Derek Hung, Raj Gujral, Curtis Crabtree 2) d Tankard Dental 5 (Nathan Beard 2, Ildi Healy 1);
Dunkley Scales 8 (Tom Gilmour 3, Deegan Kerslake 2, Selma Mayne 1) d Mallee Meats 3 (Maria Starikov 2, Jenny Leach 1)
LADDER
Mallee Bearings 33
Tankard Dental 23
Choices Flooring 23
Weightman’s Packaging 20
Cookes Pools & Spas 19
Regional Taxation Services 5
