A stunning fightback by Cookes Pools & Spas has been the highlight of a thrilling final round of Sunraysia Table Tennis, as all teams from second to fifth remarkably finished with a 7-8 win-loss ratio on the eve of finals.
Ladder leader Mallee Bearings have only lost two matches, way back in round four and five, and are hot favourites to take out the premiership.
In one of the most exciting finishes in many seasons, Cookes Pools & Spas recovered from a 3-4 deficit to narrowly defeat second-placed Tankard Dental.
A loss for Cookes would have seen them drop out of the four and now they have grabbed second place and the double chance from Tankards, who dropped to third.
Cookes Kate Carmichael was outstanding in the 6-5 victory, winning three singles and participating in both doubles victories.
Her match against opposing number three Paul Kealley was a highlight.
Carmichael took the first two games before the left-handed Kealley bounced back to win the third and fourth.
With the match at two rubbers all, Carmichael lifted a gear and proved far too strong running away to a 11-9 11-5 7-11 6-11 11-2 victory.
Another five-set match followed when Carmichael combined with Casper McCarthy to defeat fill in Rohan Reimers and Thanh Nguyen after trailing two games to one.
With the score at 5-4 in Cookes’ favour, McCarthy took to the table against Nguyen, knowing a loss would see his team drop out of the finals race.
Things looked grim when he dropped the first game, however to his credit and the delight of his teammates McCarthy proved too steady against the reliable Nguyen and took the match 8-11 11-8 11-2 13-11.
Cookes won four of five rubbers after a slow start to grab the all-important four points and a finals berth.
Ladder leader Mallee Bearings won their 10th match on the trot defeating Choices Flooring Mildura 7-4 in a topsy turvy match.
After the Bearings team took a 3-1 lead Choices fought back in fine style to level it at four rubbers all with three singles to be played.
Bearings skipper Joel Thomas then played Wayne Carmichael and while Thomas won in three sets there were some outstanding rallies between the two best players in the competition. Thomas has been outstanding this season and has won 45 singles to remain undefeated in this format.
In an even team performance, Thomas’s teammates Liam Wood and Daniel Jansen won two and one singles respectively.
As a result of this loss, Choices Flooring Mildura slipped from third to fourth.
Fifth-placed Weightmans Packaging went into this final match against Regional Taxation Services knowing victory could still get them a potential place in the four.
They raced to a 4-2 lead and held on to win narrowly 6-5, with skipper Jackson Tung winning three singles.
Tung has enjoyed a successful season and has finished third in the singles aggregate.
The first doubles proved to be crucial when Tung and partner Lee Leeson recovered from 0-5 in the fifth to win against Andrew Cannard and Rohan Reimers, this was an amazing comeback in what was a very narrow victory coming in five sets 11-8 9-11 11-9 10-12 11-8.
Of the 11 rubbers in this contest six went to five sets, indicating how closely these teams are matched.
Another vital victory for Weightmans was the five-set victory by number three Leeson over opposing number one Cannard, a very good scalp.
For Regional Taxation Services, Edi Re again won two singles and his improvement over the past month has been outstanding.
Despite the win, Weightmans still came up short to finish fifth on the ladder.
LADDER
Mallee Bearings 57
Cookes Pools & Spas 31
Tankard Dental 31
Choices Flooring 31
Weightmans Packaging 28
Regional Taxation Services 17
Sunraysia Table Tennis 2024 Winter Pennant results Round 16
PENNANT ONE:
Cookes Pools & Spas 6 (Kate Carmichael 3, Casper McCarthy 1) d Tankard Dental 5 (Paul Kealley, Rohan Reimers 2, Thanh Nguyen 1);
Mallee Bearings 7 (Joel Thomas 3, Liam Wood 2, Daniel Jansen 1) d Choices Flooring Mildura 4 (Wayne Carmichael 2, Ed Hung 1);
Weightmans Packaging 6 (Jackson Tung 3, Dylan Wood, Lee Leeson 1) d Regional Taxation Services 5 (Edi Re 2, Andrew Cannard, Rohan Reimers 1)
PENNANT TWO:
Choices Flooring Mildura 9 (Jason Gifkins, Kevin Johns 3, Harry Gujral 2) d Weightmans Packaging 2 (Mark Cleary 1);
Cookes Pools & Spas 8 (Tom Morrison, Marcus Cimino, Josh Arnold 2) d Pinnacle Packers 3 (John Fitzpatrick 3);
Mallee Meats 5 (Ashley Morrison 3, David Sergi 1) d Mallee Bearings 4 (Jamie Kealley, Therese Fitzpatrick 2)
PENNANT THREE:
Sammy’s Slammers 6 (James Jarvis 3, Hayden Wilson 1) d Exposed Signage/Apparel 5 (Gayle Cottrell, Nick Kiapekos 2, Wendy Simpson 1);
Regional Taxation Services 8 (Peter Fitzpatrick 3, Ted Cleary, Sam Campbell 2) d Mallee Meats 3 (Karly Leach 2)
PENNANT FOUR:
Dunkley Scales 8 (Deegan Kerslake 3, Tom Gilmour 2, Andrew Jeffries 1) d Mallee Meats 3 (Maria Starikov 2, Jenny Leach 1);
Weightmans Packaging 9 (Curtis Crabtree 3, Gary Leach, Raj Gujral 2) d Tankard Dental 2 (Derek Hung 2)
For further information on Table Tennis contact Gavin Carmichael 0408 237 907.
