WITH one week remaining of home-and-away matches, Nichols Point have created a buffer for their top teams in the Sunraysia District Tennis Association.
In Division 1, ladder leaders Nichols Point Legends had a 7-3 win over second-placed Sarnia Sloggers.
Nathan Swaeney of the Legends put up a great effort but just fell short of victory in his 6-8 loss to Sloggers’ Ryan Samaras.
Sarnia also took out one of the men’s doubles to have the men’s side of the match on an even keel.
But there was daylight between the performance of the Legends’ and Sloggers’ women.
Renee Affleck played Susan Green in the singles and her win set the tone for the rest of the women’s matches, where the Sloggers struggled to get games on the board, let alone sets.
Aaron Wilkie and Heather Olofsson teamed together to annihilate Mildura Lawn mixed champions Warren Searle and Brenda Hornsby 8-1.
A tie-break win to Sarnia’s Vaughan Marshall and Demi Turlan over Matt Bates and Nat Thomas brought the Sloggers a touch of decency to their score but Legends now are outright favourites for the flag.
Nichols Point Guns n Roses could not emulate their clubmates’ success, going down to Sacred Heart Guns who, on the rebound from last week’s defeat, handed out a 7-3 beating.
Another strong showing from the Sacred Heart women, who did not drop a set, was as expected.
Nichols Point Pointers’ home-court advantage was insufficient to overcome the top-of-the-table Division 2 team St Andrews Slammers.
A seven-sets-to-two win for the Slammers has stretched their lead at the top of the ladder but the Pointers still look certain to play finals, holding a nine-point advantage over their nearest rival.
Raki Woetai (24/9) and Tash Pedler (24/12) were the match-winners for St Andrews.
Nichols Point Diamonds are sitting pretty on the top of the ladder in Division 3 after a 5-4 win over Sarnia Saints, although this match could easily have gone either way as scores were close and sets equal after the doubles.
Thomas Moore and Jenny Green of the Diamonds won a tense mixed tie-breaker set against Aydin Yazici and Layla Searle.
Cooper Young and Maree Moore of Sarnia reversed the result in their 8-7 win over Vishal Kapadia and Cheryl Collis.
The result was then in the hands of Diamonds’ evergreens Geoff John and Wendy Dickie, who held steady to defeat Glen Hornsby and Cath Banks 8-5 for a final score of five sets 63 games to four sets 56 games.
It was second versus third in the other Division 3 match being played at Nichols Point.
A 7-3 win by St Andrews Spartans over Nichols Point DIs has seen them leapfrog into second position and a replay of this match is likely in the semi-finals, which would favour the Spartans.
Fourth spot in this division is still well and truly up for grabs, which should lead to some very hotly contested matches in this week’s final round.
SUNRAYSIA District Tennis Association round 14 results:
DIVISION 1
Alcheringa Avengers 6(70) d Red Cliffs Rebels 4(56): Cameron Phillips 24/11 (Alcheringa).
Nichols Point Legends 7(71) d Sarnia Sloggers 3(37): Aaron Wilkie 24/8, Renee Affleck 24/3, Heather Olofsson 24/4 (Nichols Point).
Sacred Heart Guns 7(71) d Nichols Point Guns n Roses 3(36): Bree Bagnall 24/4, Leanne Jordan 24/5, Kerrie Lynch 24/5 (Sacred Heart),
DIVISION 2
St Andrews Slammers 7(69) d Nichols Point Pointers 2(36): Raki Woetai 24/9, Tash Pedler 24/12 (St Andrews).
Alcheringa All Stars 5(56) d Sacred Heart Starters 4(49): Andrew Carlson 24/11 (Alcheringa).
DIVISION 3
St Andrews Spartans 7(72) d Nicholes Point Dl’s 3(53): Len Poole 24/16, (St Andrews)
Nichols Point Diamonds 5(63) d Sarnia Saints 4(56): Geoff John 24/11 (Nichols Point).
Alcheringa Almighties 6(59) d Sacred Heart Braves 3(47): Mark Henderson 24/13 (Alcheringa).
Red Cliffs Ratbagz 6(61) d Wentworth Wascals 3(58): Jarrod Kees 24/17, Danial Kampman 24/15 (Red Cliffs).
DIVISION 4
Alcheringa Alfrescoes 5(50) d Kenny Park Magpies 4(60): Russell Walder 24/3 (Kenny Park), Gemma Higgins 24/17 (Alcheringa).
St Andrews Almost Skilled 9(72) d St Andrews Saints 0(27): Dale Irvin 24/12, Alex Dashort 24/7, Mike Barenskie 24/17, Tania Gaussen 24/14, Susan Whiteley 24/8, Jess Irvin 24/13 (Almost Skilled).
JUNIOR tennis results from round 12:
A GRADE
Sarnia Gold 40 d Sacred Heart Green 37
Red Cliffs 42 d St Andrews 32
Sacred Heart Gold 44 d Sarnia Blue 34
B GRADE
Red Cliffs 36 d Sacred Heart 18
Sarnia Gold 27 d Sarnia Blue 23
C GRADE
St Andrews 13 d Sacred Heart Blue 9
Sacred Heart White 18 d Red Cliffs 3
Wentworth Blue 18 d Wentworth Red 5
D GRADE
St Andrews 18 d Wentworth 0
Red Cliffs Red 18 d Red Cliffs Blue 5
The SDTA junior semi finals will be held on Saturday, September 7 from 9am to 11am and the grand finals will be held on Saturday, September 14.
