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Sunraysia Table Tennis Summer Pennant results Semi Finals: –
PENNANT ONE: –
– Mallee Bearings 6 (Darren Robinson 3, Jackson Tung, Matt Ljubic 1) d Bishop Builders 4 (Andrew Cannard 2, Peter Bishop 1)
– Pinnacle Packers 6 (Gavin Carmichael, Nicholas Dorman 2, Sony Sefer 1) d Max Miller Carpets 1 (Andrew Cannard 1)
Grand Final : Pinnacle Packers vs. Mallee Bearings
PENNANT TWO: –
– Mallee Bearings 6 (Peter Fitzpatrick, Geoff Peters 2, George Papanicolaou 1) d Tankard Dental 4 (Arnold Jago 3)
– Spanline 6 (Leon Brown, Cole Keegan 2, Tony Malycha 1) d Fishers IGA 5 (Ed Hung 3, Michael Hensgen 1)
Grand Final : Spanline vs. Mallee Bearings
PENNANT THREE: –
– Weightmans Packaging 6 (Matt Avers, Graham Southwell 2, Rachel Fitzpatrick 1) d Sunny Daily 4 (Peter Edwards 2, Mohammad Karam 1)
– Dunkley Scales 6 (Leonie Dunkley, Jeff Hards, Mukhwinder Mukhwinder 2) d Bishop Builders 0
Grand Final : Dunkley Scales vs. Weightmans Packaging
PENNANT FOUR: –
– Sunny Daily 6 (Angela Pryor, Chelsey Avers 2, Kim Avers 1) d Pinnacle Packers 4 (Kumail Jaffry 2, Soyel Zahidi 1)
– Max Miller Carpets 6 (John Fitzpatrick, Wayne Pryor, Therese Fitzpatrick 2) d Fishers IGA 4 (Shirley Whitecross 2, Rahullah Mirzai 1)
Gavin Carmichael took sweet revenge over Andrew Cannard in the knockout Semi to steer Pinnacle Packers to the Summer Pennant Grand Final. It has been a long time since Sheild wins for ‘Richie’ but with strong leadership in the ‘Commentary box’ one senses an air of destiny with this one, although ‘Richie’ will state ‘Just taking it one week at a time!’
PENNANT ONE:
First placed Pinnacle Packers will meet third placed Mallee Bearings in the grand final of the Sunraysia Table Tennis summer pennant one competition. Both teams successfully accounted for their respective opponents Max Miller Carpets and Bishop Builders in the knockout semi finals.
Ladder leader Pinnacle Packers proved too strong for their opponents Max Miller Carpets and won their tenth match in succession to book a place in the grand final.
– Pinnacle Packers 6 (Gavin Carmichael, Nicholas Dorman 2, Sony Sefer 1) d Max Miller Carpets 1 (Andrew Cannard 1)
The Carpeters took the first match of the night when fill in Andrew Cannard accounted for Sony Sefer in four sets. Cannard came into the team to fill in for the absent Mark Dorman.
Despite Cannard having a first up win it was from this point the Packers were too strong winning the next two singles in straight sets courtesy of Nicholas Dorman and Gavin Carmichael. Following these two matches the next singles was a thriller when Packers Sony Sefer took to the table against Geoff Wright. Wright took the initiative early and when leading two games to love it looked as though he would level the match however Sefer steadied and slowly the match turned with Sefer now controlling the third and fourth.
At two games all both players were giving their all and again Sefer with some good defence and at times controlled attacking forehands raced to a 10-6 lead in the fifth; however Sefer then erred four times in succession as Wright would not go away. Amazingly the score now stood at ten all in this important match and to his credit Sefer was able to grab back the initiative to win the fifth 12-10 and give his team a 3-1 lead in what was a crucial result for both teams.
The next match was the first doubles and Packers pair Nicholas Dorman and Gavin Carmichael were unstoppable taking control against Andrew Cannard and Geoff Wright and winning in straight sets. Young Dorman powered through this match with some very strong attacking forehands and many well placed backhand shots. The Packers now took a 4-1 lead with Carmichael to play Cannard in the next singles.
Cannard whose form has been excellent over the season had defeated Carmichael in their past three meetings and he again took control early in what was another lengthy five setter between these two however on this occasion it was 
Carmichael who took the points 8-11 11-9 9-11 11-8 11-6. Cannard had played well in a busy night for him as he filled in in the other semi as well.
With his team up 5-1 the in form
Nicholas Dorman took to the table against veteran Arthur Paar and despite dropping the second game Dorman was always in control winning 11-7 9-11 11-8 11-7. Paar had tried hard but could not counter his young opponent. Pinnacle Packers were the victors 6-1 in a strong display and now advance to the grand final.
– Mallee Bearings 6 (Darren Robinson 3, Jackson Tung, Matt Ljubic 1) d Bishop Builders 4 (Andrew Cannard 2, Peter Bishop 1)
The other semi final took place between second placed Bishop Builders and Mallee Bearings who finished third on the ladder and this was an arm wrestle all night. The busy Andrew Cannard filled in for Mark Ljubic of the Bishop Builders while Darren Robinson came into the Mallee Bearings combination for the absent Ali Taheri and it was Robinson who played a key role winning three singles as well as partnering Jackson Tung in the first doubles to victory over Andrew Cannard and Peter Bishop.
Robinson’s most important win was his singles victory over regular training partner Cannard. Their match was a highlight for the spectators with many outstanding rallies. Robinson recovered from a two game to one deficit to win 11-5 5-11 9-11 11-3 11-6 I what was a top class match.
The Builders Michael Hogarth was unlucky on the night pressing both Matt Ljubic and Jackson Tung only to come up short by the barest margin in two five set losses. His team fought hard with four five set matches taking place in the last four matches. By being successful in three of these Mallee Bearings took the points 6-4 and have advanced to the grand final.
The Hogarth-Tung singles clash was an amazing match with Hogarth with excellent hands moving Jackson all around the table and when Hogarth had four match points at 10-6 in the fifth, it looked like the match would go to five all with Matt Ljubic and Peter Bishop to play the decider, however Tung had other ideas and clawed his way back to ten all in the fourth before amazingly winning 13-11 in a great come back. 
Tung then controlled the fifth before it was Hogarth’s turn to come back when all looked gone. Spectators and team mates witnessed some excellent rallies and important points as Hogarth saved match points before Tung got over the line 11-7 7-11 9-11 13-11 13-11 how close it was and with this win Tung took the Mallee Bearings team to the grand final.
Top team Pinnacle Packers will now play Mallee Bearings to decide the summer pennant.
PENNANT TWO:
Mallee Bearings and Spanline will play in this year’s Pennant Two Summer Grand Final, after wins over Tankard Dental and Fishers IGA respectively.
– Mallee Bearings 6 (Peter Fitzpatrick, Geoff Peters 2, George Papanicolaou 1) d Tankard Dental 4 (Arnold Jago 3)
These two sides met only two weeks ago, and the result then was a 7-4 win to Mallee Bearings.
The result did not change this time, and Mallee Bearings had control of the match throughout.
Following wins to Mallee Bearings’ George Papanicolaou and Peter Fitzpatrick, Tankards Arnold Jago scored the first of his three singles wins, with a four set victory over Geoff Peters.
The first doubles between Papanicolaou and Fitzpatrick for Mallee Bearings and Jago and Jessica Dorman for Tankard Dental resulted in a four set victory for the Mallee Bearings pair. Only a fortnight ago, it was the reverse.
Mallee Bearings won two of the next three singles – 
Peters and Fitzpatrick picking up wins for Mallee Bearings, whilst this time Jago defeated Papanicolaou in four.
That made it five rubbers to two. The next match, the second doubles was a match that Jago believed his team could win: two weeks ago the Mallee Bearings pair of Papanicolaou and Peters won it 12-10 in the fifth. If the “bounce of the ball” could go Tankards way …
And so it did – Jago and Claire Ljubic lost the first set 9-11, then put their authority on the match in the next two sets, taking them 11-7, 11-7. They almost closed the match out in four sets, but Papanicolaou and Peters hung on to level at 13-11. The Tankard pair were not to be denied, however, and took the fifth set 11-8.
That made it 5-3, and when 
Arnold ripped through Fitzpatrick in three sets, it was 5-4, with two to play.
However, there was no more good news for Tankards – George Papanicolaou was too good for Jessica Dorman, taking their rubber in three sets.
Once again a strong performance by Arnold Jago, but Mallee Bearings all had contributors.
– Spanline 6 (Leon Brown, Cole Keegan 2, Tony Malycha 1) d Fishers IGA 5 (Ed Hung 3, Michael Hensgen 1)
Much has been said about Fishers IGA’s Ed Hung’s dominance of the aggregate table this season, but what has not been so much talked about is his coaching and encouragement of his team-mates, Karly Leach and Michael Hensgen. This is their first season in Pennant Two, and Ed has given them valuable coaching as the season has gone on. Monday night training has helped too !!
This match, between first (Spanline) and fourth (Fishers IGA) on the ladder, looked a bit of a mismatch. Spanline finished the season with eight wins to Fishers four. The game itself, bore no resemblance to those figures.
Fishers got off to a flyer when Hensgen defeated Tony Malycha in straight sets. This dominant win was a bit of surprise; in their previous two meetings, they had each won once, in four sets each time.
Spanline’s captain, Leon Brown balanced the books with a three set win over Fishers Karly Leach 11-9, 11-9, 11-9.
Ed Hung took the first of his three wins, over a determined Cole Keegan he won 15-11, 11-5, 11-8.
Brown and Malycha won a hard fought first doubles against Hung and Leach in five – 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 12-10. That made it 2-2, and they carried on with a win in the next rubber, Brown defeating Hensgen.
Ed again squared things up with a win over Tony Malycha. Tony, for the second time this season, took a set from Ed (only five players have managed to take set from Ed during the whole of the season).
The next rubber could have so easily gone the way of Fishers – Cole Keegan could not shake off Karly Leach, and needed five sets to get the win; the fifth went to 11-9. Leach was proving to be a difficult competitor.
The second doubles – once again the scores were level after Hung and Hensgen dismissed Brown and Keegan in four sets.
During the course of the match so far, Ed was seen giving advice to his team-mates between sets, and that no doubt kept them in the match.
Fishers again took the lead thanks to Hung’s third win – he certainly had to work for it though. His opponent, Leon Brown finished second on the aggregate, albeit 6 games behind. 
In this match, Leon led two sets to one 6-11, 12-10, 13-11 and looked to have Ed’s measure. Hung, however, tore back into the match, taking the fourth 11-3, before Brown could collect himself. The fifth was closer, but Hung was home 11-7.
After losing the first set, Cole Keegan dominated Michael Hensgen to win 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 to make the score 5-5, and leave the result of the match in the hands of Tony Malycha and Karly Leach.
Karly’s two matches so far had not produced any wins, but the manner in which she lost (11-9, 11-9, 11-9 against Leon Brown, and a hard five setter against Cole Keegan), indicated that this match too, would go down to the wire.
It did not look like that after two sets though – Malycha took them 11-6, 11-9, to be in control.
A bit of advice from captain Ed Hung, and Karly was back in the match, taking the next two sets 11-9, 11-7 to force the contest to the fifth. It was not as though Tony Malycha was all of a sudden playing badly, 
Karly’s game lifted, and so she went on, leading 9-4 in the fifth with a Grand Final berth just there …
Now it was time for Tony’s patience to be rewarded. He had not changed his game throughout Karly’s resurgence, and at the point of 9-4, things started to go his way. He leveled at 10-10, and after a couple of nervous points, took the set 12-10.
A great finish, and either side would have been worthy contestant of a Grand Final berth.
PENNANT THREE:
The Weightmans Packaging v. Sunny Daily match was a worthy finals contest, whilst the Dunkley Scales v. Bishop Builders match-up was a disappointing end for Bishop Builders.
– Weightmans Packaging 6 (Matt Avers, Graham Southwell 2, Rachel Fitzpatrick 1) d Sunny Daily 4 (Peter Edwards 2, Mohammad Karam 1)
Weightmans Packaging finished second on the ladder with nine wins for the season, whilst their opponents Sunny Daily were third with five wins.
For the first half of this contest, it seemed like a walk in the park for Weightmans Packaging. After five rubbers, they led 5-0.
Rachel Fitzpatrick set the ball rolling with a four set win over Ben Hosking, captain Matt Avers hardly warmed up with a three set win over Mohammad Karam, and fill-in Graeme Southwell worked very hard for a 12-10, 9-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-7 win over Peter Edwards.
The first doubles followed: Avers and Fitzpatrick won that in four over Edwards and Hosking. The first match of the second round of singles was another Weightmans benefit – 
Avers again in three sets, this time over Hosking.
At 5-0, Weightmans felt they had the match in the bag, and the thinking was, surely the sixth rubber will come in probably the next match.
It was at this point that Sunny Daily began their fight-back. Rachel Fitzpatrick had the chance to finish the match in the very next rubber, when she led Peter Edwards two sets to one 11-9, 10-12, 12-10. Edwards decided to go for broke, and it paid off. He took the next two sets 11-4, 11-4 to give Sunny Daily their first rubber.
Sunny Daily number three Mohammad Karam, no doubt inspired by his captain, never looked to be in trouble in his four set 11-8, 12-10, 5-11, 11-8 win over Graeme Southwell.
The second doubles followed – and the two victorious Sunny Daily players teamed together to clean up Avers and Southwell in three sets 11-9, 11-8, 13-11.
Things were beginning to look a bit serious; it was now 5-3. And there was more in store. Edwards, in scintillating form, disposed of opposing captain Matt Avers 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 12-10 to give his team a sniff of victory.
Sadly, that is where it ended: 
Graeme Southwell steadied things for Weightmans with a workmanlike three set win over Ben Hosking.
A great fightback by the Sunny Daily team, but a shame (for them) that they only got their first score on the board at 5-0 down. From then on they had their backs to the wall, hoping against hope to win everything, but Weightmans were too good, and took the win 6 rubbers to 4 to put themselves in the Grand Final against Dunkley Scales.
– Dunkley Scales 6 (Leonie Dunkley, Jeff Hards, Mukhwinder Mukhwinder 2) d Bishop Builders 0
This match was between teams that finished first (Dunkley Scales) and fourth (Bishop Builders) on the ladder.
Bishop Builders actually finished equal on points with Max Miller Carpets, but because of superior percentage on the for and against, they secured the fourth spot in the finals.
The night that Kalif Shortt, Demi Green and Helen Frania had worked so hard for during the season turned into an anti-climax. Unfortunately, none of the team members were available to play, and the two players who could sub for them, came from Max Miller Carpets, the team they beat into fourth spot !!
So it was that Leonie Dunkley, Jeff Hards and Mukhwinder Mukhwinder for Dunkley Scales teamed up to play against Paul Fitzpatrick and Ali Mohammad for Bishop Builders.
The match was all over in six rubbers – neither Paul nor Ali was a match for any of the Dunkley Scales trio. Two rubbers went beyond three sets, and they were decided in four.
So, Dunkley Scales will face off against Weightmans Packaging in the Grand Final, in what promises to be a good match.
Both these teams finished the season with nine wins from ten games, the game they each lost was to the other, Dunkley Scales took the honors in Round 2 with a 7 rubbers to 4 win, but Weightmans Packaging took the points in Round 7 when they won 6 rubbers to 5.
PENNANT FOUR:
These two semi finals were decided by a 6-4 result and there was some excellent table tennis by a group who are on the improve. Many of the players taking part are really improving their game under the tuition of Graeme O’Neill on a Monday night.
– Sunny Daily 6 (Angela Pryor, Chelsey Avers 2, Kim Avers 1) d Pinnacle Packers 4 (Kumail Jaffry 2, Soyel Zahidi 1)
This was the match between one and four on the ladder and top team Sunny Daily knew they would have to be on top of their game as both Kumail Jaffry and Soyel Zahidi have been in excellent form and receiving good support from young Matt Demarco since their team was revamped a few short weeks ago.
Kumail had won the Pennant four super 8’s comp on the previous Monday defeating both Angela Pryor and Kim Avers along the way. The very first match of the night set the scene when Sunny Daily player Kim Avers fought out an excellent five setter against Soyel Zahidi. Soyel after dropping the first game fought back to lead two one before the steady Kim recovered and went on to win this lengthy match 11-7 9-11 9-11 11-7 11-5. Sunny Daily then took a two nil lead when Angela Pryor accounted for Matt Demarco in four sets.
The Packers then burst into action winning the next four matches to have the top team right under the pump. Their first win was courtesy of Kumail Jaffry who defeated Chelsey Savers in four sets. Then in the first doubles Kumail and Soyel played well to defeat Angela and Chelsey 11-9 11-7 11-9. Soyel then played a great match to defeat Angela 12-10 11-4 7-11 11-5. The Packers now took a 3-2 lead and then when Kumail defeated Kim in straight sets the Packers were sitting pretty with a 4-2 advantage.
Sunny Daily then steadied with Chelsey defeating Matt Demarco. The second doubles was now vital and in a strange match Angela and Kim in the end proved too strong for Kumail and Matt. Along the way though they were under extreme pressure trailing 1-2 before narrowly grabbing the fourth before completely dominating the fifth to win 11-8 8-11 6-11 14-12 11-0! The score now stood at four rubbers all and two tough matches followed. 
The determined Angela Pryor played excellent table tennis to defeat Kumail Jaffry 4-11 11-8 11-6 13-11 a great win which gave her team a narrow 5-4 lead. The next match was a beauty with Sunny Daily number two Chelsey Avers up against Soyel Zahidi, this was an excellent match with Soyel playing many fine fore hands only to see Chelsey block these with excellent soft hands. In one of her best wins for the season Chelsey prevailed 7-11 11-9 5-11 12-10 11-5 against Soyel who had tried really hard to keep his team alive. With this win Chelsey had secured a sixth rubber for her team and with this six-four win over Pinnacle Packers, Sunny Daily had advanced to the grand final.
– Max Miller Carpets 6 (John Fitzpatrick, Wayne Pryor, Therese Fitzpatrick 2) d Fishers IGA 4 (Shirley Whitecross 2, Rahullah Mirzai 1)
In an even team performance second placed team Max Miller Carpets advanced to the grand final with a solid 6-4 victory over Fishers IGA. Carpeters John Fitzpatrick and Wayne Pryor both won two singles while Therese Fitzpatrick won one. The Carpeters after the first block of three singles took a 2-1 lead courtesy of Therese and brother John defeating their respective opponents Rahullah Mirzai and Sanam Preet both in four sets. Team mate Wayne Pryor tried hard against Shirley Whitecross before going down in five. 
Shirley took the points to get her team off the mark 9-11 11-6 12-14 11-5 11-5. The next match was the first doubles with John and Wayne outlasting Shirley and Rahullah in an important win 11-7 11-8 6-11 9-11 11-6. The Carpeters now led 3-1.
Rahullah then reduced the lead by inflicting the only defeat on John for the night winning 12-14 11- 8 11-8 11-8 a great effort. Team mate Shirley Whitecross then levelled the match at three rubbers all when she defeated Therese in yet another five setter 11-7 4-11 9-11 11-7 11-8. This was the first of three five setters in succession a real indication of how close this match was. The improving Wayne Pryor again gave the Carpeters the edge when he defeated Sanam Preet in five 12-14 11-7 11-9 8-11 11-6. Sanam then teamed up with skipper Shirley and they again levelled the match defeating the Fitzpatrick pair of John and Therese 11-6 6-11 11-9 8-11 11-9 a thriller!
In the final block of singles young
John Fitzpatrick played an outstanding match to defeat Shirley 11-7 11-8 11-8 to get the Carpeters within one rubber of a spot in the grand final. Wayne Pryor and Rahullah then played an outstanding match. Rahullah tried hard to keep his team alive however it was Wayne, much to the delight of his team mates, that prevailed winning another thriller 10-12 4-11 11-2 11-9 12-10 a great comeback from two sets to love down.
The number one and two teams on the ladder at the end of the home and away games, Sunny Daily and Max Miller Carpets will now play off to decide the pennant four champions.
