By Sam Campbell
IT may be too early to talk tennis finals for Broken Hill’s spring competitions, but the psychological aspect of mid-season wins is starting to surface.
In the most recent round of Wednesday night’s Division 1, it was a mixed bag of results.
Couldabeens continued their winning ways with a thumping victory over Keen-On Balls – six sets, 42 games to zero sets, eight games.
Glen Andrich starred for the Couldabeens, dropping just the four games over the course of his three doubles matches on the night.
While all that was taking place, Feauties had a tough battle against Spin Doctors.
Crucially, Feauties scored the first two doubles of the night, including a gutsy 7-5 win by Terry Hibberd and James McAtee over Tom Jovanovic and Jenny Powell.
Spin Doctors got themselves back into contention when Jovanovic teamed up with Jono Hull to down Hibberd and Steph Wylie 7-3.
However, their comeback efforts were quelled as Feauties claimed two more sets to finish the night as winners 4(35) to 2(28).
The last fixture of the night was Macblack squaring off against Net Ninjas.
Ironically, Net Ninjas were not fast enough, dropping the opening two sets.
This would snowball into a winless night with Macblack roaring home for 6(42) to 0(21) victory.
All six matches either had a 7-3 score line or higher, making for a truly great night of tennis, which the scorecard did not do justice for.
Jack Woods, Luke Barnes, Hamish Curtis and Ashley Mason proving to be a formidable Macblack formation.
Moving into Thursday night, two extremely tight matches took place.
Backhands pulled off a stunning win over Dropshots 4(36) to 2(34).
Nathan Crabb and Corey Pascoe did well to down Matt Handberg and Adam Hellyer in the top doubles to start the night and get Backhands into an early lead.
This was bolstered with a clutch tiebreaker win by Wayne “The Animal” Lee and Peter Clark over Evan Boylan and Chris Stanley.
Dropshots jagged a set back from the next two, leaving Backhands up three sets to one with two to go.
Handberg and Boylan combined to beat Pascoe and Lee 7-3 and leave the door open for a tie on sets.
But the steely-eyed men of Crabb and Clark put the game beyond doubt, scoring a 7-5 win.
In the second fixture, Topspins had to battle against Volleys, wtih both sides winning a set from the first two doubles.
Patrick Reincke and Dale Pascoe opened Topspins’ account with 7-5 upending of Dale Dodimead and Brady Wauchope.
While that was happening, Volleys got rolling as Ashley Mason and Ken Caldwell downed Tom Kennedy and Jack Woods in a tie-breaker.
Topspins won the next two matches to get an edge, including a second tie-breaker victory for Kennedy.
Kennedy and Reincke would then team later in the evening to clench a fourth set for Topspins and the 4(39) to 2(31) victory.
While the spring competition is already under way, it certainly is not closed to new players.
“Anyone who wants to come down and have hit, are more than welcome to,” tennis association president, Patrick Reincke told the Broken Hill Times.
“Any skill level will be accommodated, whether you’re new to the game, a current player or maybe have a bit of built-up tennis rust.
“It’s all doubles tennis, so there’s no arduous singles and the social side afterwards is great,” he said.
Broken Hill tennis is played on Wednesday and Thursday nights from 7pm.
Anyone interested in having hit can contact Patrick on 0438 472 410.
Round 7 fixture:
Wednesday Division 1: Net Ninjas v Keen-On Balls; Macblack v Spin Doctors; Feauties v Couldabeens.
Thursday Open A: Backhands v Dropshots; Topspins v Forehands.
