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Sunraysia Table Tennis Summer Pennant results Round 7: –
PENNANT ONE:
– Fishers IGA 6 (Wayne Carmichael 3, Lee Thomas 1) d Dunkley Scales 5 (Matt Ljubic, Ed Hung 2, Ashley Morrison)
– Tankard Dental 7 (Nicholas Dorman, Kate Carmichael, Bernadette Fitzpatrick 2) d Max Miller Carpets 4 (Rick McMeekin 3)
– Weightmans Packaging 6 (Gavin Carmichael 2, Peter Midgley, Bernadette Fitzpatrick 1) d Mallee Bearings (Mark Ljubic 3, Kevin Johns 2)
PENNANT TWO:
– Tankard Dental 7 (Matt Avers 3, Peter Fitzpatrick 2, Brian Hosking 1) d Pinnacle Packers 4 (Tony Malycha 2, Glen Bell 1)
– Max Miller Carpets 6 (Aidan Moore, Andrew Alderton 2, Peter Edwards 1) d Fishers IGA 5 (Arnold Jago 3, Geoff Peters 1)
– Weightmans Packaging 7 (Reece Kurrle 3, Seval Fuat 2, Colin Moore 1) d Mallee Bearings 4 (Josh Carmichael 2, Brendan Alderton 1)
PENNANT THREE:
– Pinnacle Packers 7 (Cambell McKenzie, Peter Mikhaeil 3) d Dunkley Scales 4 (Ajay Chowdhry, John Fitzpatrick, Kim Avers 1)
– Weightmans Packaging 8 (Sabrina Fitzpatrick, Kerry Wallace 3, Stephan Ljubic 1) d Mallee Bearings 3 (Paul Fitzpatrick, Lachlan Prothero 1)
With captain ‘Richie’ Carmichael working on the sports phsycology side of things, Peter Midgley showed a return to form in Rnd 7 action and in doing so helped Weightmans Packaging arrest a 4 game losing streak.
PENNANT ONE:
After losing four matches on the trot Weightmans Packaging defeated Mallee Bearings narrowly 6-5 in round seven of the Sunraysia Table Tennis summer pennant and in doing so have moved to fourth on the ladder by percentage with three rounds to play.
– Weightmans Packaging 6 (Gavin Carmichael 2, Peter Midgley, Bernadette Fitzpatrick 1) d Mallee Bearings (Mark Ljubic 3, Kevin Johns 2)
Weightmans Peter Midgley who would acknowledge that he has had an indifferent season played a major role in his team’s success. In his second singles of the night Midgley matched up against opposing number three Leon Brown who won their last encounter in round two.
A determined Midgley took the first game and led 10-4 in the second only to see Brown recover spectacularly to win the second. This match eventuated into a marathon five setter with Midgley giving his team a four rubbers to three lead by winning 11-8 13-15 17-15 4-11 11-8, a great contest.
In the very next match on the grand stand court Midgley teamed up with Gavin Carmichael in the second doubles this time accounting for Brown and his partner Mark Ljubic in four sets in another crucial result. Earlier the Weightmans pair of Carmichael and Bernadette Fitzpatrick came back from two games to love down to win in the fifth 11-9. Again the importance of the doubles matches shone out in this battle for four points.
With his team down 3-5 Mallee Bearings skipper “the five set king” Mark Ljubic recovered from a two games to love deficit and then trailed 0-6 in the fifth against Gavin Carmichael to sensationally win 12-14 8-11 11-9 11-8 12-10, a tremendous fight back. Team mate Kevin Johns then also recovered from a two game deficit against Peter Midgley to also win in five however fifteen year old Bernadette Fitzpatrick remained calm to soundly defeat Leon Brown to give Weightmans their first win in five weeks.
– Fishers IGA 6 (Wayne Carmichael 3, Lee Thomas 1) d Dunkley Scales 5 (Matt Ljubic, Ed Hung 2, Ashley Morrison)
Ladder leader Fishers IGA remained one win ahead of the pack when they narrowly defeated the luckless Dunkley Scales 6-5 on the stage court. Wayne Carmichael again continued his excellent form winning three singles as well as taking part in both doubles victories while team mate Lee Thomas again won an important singles.
This was the seventh time that Dunkley’s had been involved in matches decided by the barest margin and unfortunately they have only won two but mathematically they remain in the finals race. For Dunkley’s both 
Matt Ljubic and Ed Hung again won two singles while team mate Ash Morrison proved too good for Arthur Paar in four sets however it was their inability to win a doubles, both lost in four, which proved costly.
– Tankard Dental 7 (Nicholas Dorman, Kate Carmichael, Bernadette Fitzpatrick 2) d Max Miller Carpets 4 (Rick McMeekin 3)
The youthful Tankard Dental bounced back this round with a 7-4 win over Max Miller Carpets despite Rick McMeekin winning three singles and moving to the outright lead in the singles aggregate.
Before the match there was a shake up in the Carpeters line up with Graeme O’Neill coming back into the team for this round while Geoff Wright was out with a back and replaced by Sony Sefer. Seventeen year old Cole Keegan was an omission from the Tankards line up and replaced by 15 year old Bernadette Fitzpatrick who had a busy night.
In an even team performance Tankards Nicholas Dorman, Kate Carmichael and fill in Bernadette Fitzpatrick all won two singles. The highlight match of the night was the five set slog between Rick McMeekin and Nicholas Dorman. Although Dorman was defeated in a very high class five setter by McMeekin this was a taste of 
Dorman’s best form of the season and he gave the fancied McMeekin a real scare in what was a high class match.
PENNANT TWO: –
Tankard Dental moved to outright first after their win over Pinnacle Packers, and former ladder leaders Fishers IGA are now joint second with two other teams, Weightmans Packaging and Max Miller Carpets.
– Tankard Dental 7 (Matt Avers 3, Peter Fitzpatrick 2, Brian Hosking 1) d Pinnacle Packers 4 (Tony Malycha 2, Glen Bell 1)
Tankard Dental took their fourth win in a row in this round, securing a good win over Tony Malycha’s Pinnacle Packers side, and moving to outright first on the ladder. When these teams met in Round 2, Malycha’s side took a 6-5 win, but Tankard Dental reversed that this time round.
Matt Avers continued on his winning way, again securing three singles wins and taking a bigger lead on the aggregate table. Avers was not troubled in singles play – he won them all in just three sets.
Peter Fitzpatrick backed Avers up with two solid wins; the first against daughter Rachel 12-10, 11-6, 9-11, 13-11 and the second against Glen Bell in a game where neither player deserved to win, and neither deserved to lose. In a game where defensive play reigned, both players pushed and prodded for four sets until Fitzpatrick took some chances in the fifth to run away with the set 11-5.
Avers and Fitzpatrick took the first doubles defeating Malycha and Rachel Fitzpatrick in four sets.
For Pinnacle Packers, only Tony Malycha could offer much resistance, taking two singles wins – both in four sets over Fitzpatrick and Brian Hosking. Glen Bell also took one against Hosking, and Malycha and Bell were too good for the Tankard Dental pairing of Avers and Hosking, taking that rubber in straight sets 11-9, 11-8, 11-8.
Final scores: 7 rubber to 4 and 23 games to 16.
– Weightmans Packaging 7 (Reece Kurrle 3, Seval Fuat 2, Colin Moore 1) d Mallee Bearings 4 (Josh Carmichael 2, Brendan Alderton 1)
Weightmans Packaging took this match with a four game burst of wins midway through the contest.
After four rubbers the scores were 2-2, the first round of singles having gone as expected – Weightmans Reece Kurrle defeating Brendan Alderton, Mallee Bearings captain Josh Carmichael taking a steady 11-7, 12-10, 12-10 win against Colin Moore and Weightmans Seval Fuat too experienced for Karly Leach in their three set contest.
The first doubles was a bit of an arm-wrestle though, and it was more inexperienced pairing of Carmichael and Alderton which took the win over Kurrle and Fuat in five sets 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7.
Weightmans Packaging accelerated away in the next four rubbers, with only one of them going beyond three sets. The two captains met: Kurrle ran through Carmichael 7, 6 and 6; 
Fuat in a welcome return to form downing Brendan Alderton in four sets, and Colin Moore too good for Karly Leach 8, 8 and 4. Kurrle and Moore made in four with a good doubles win, in a game where their opponents improved throughout, but not enough; the Weightmans pair winning 11-3, 11-8, 13-11.
That was enough to win the game, the score now being 6 rubbers to 2, and Fuat was keen to extend that to 7-2, but ran out of puff in the fifth set against Josh Carmichael. Carmichael took this one 9-11, 14-12, 11-7, 12-14, 11-2.
Kurrle did make it 7 rubbers with his win over Leach, but Brendan Alderton then responded for Mallee Bearings with close four set win over Colin Moore. After losing the first set 9-11, Alderton was very careful against his more experienced opponent, taking the next three 12-10, 11-9, 11-9.
Final scores: 7 rubbers to 4 and 26 games to 14.
– Max Miller Carpets 6 (Aidan Moore, Andrew Alderton 2, Peter Edwards 1) d Fishers IGA 5 (Arnold Jago 3, Geoff Peters 1)
Max Miller Carpets kept themselves in the running for a spot in the finals with a determined win over Fishers IGA, who have been the side to beat in recent weeks. However, with a second loss in as many weeks, Fishers have now dropped from outright first to being in a three-way tussle for third spot.
Max Miller Carpets captain Aidan Moore knew that Fishers IGA number three Geoff Peters was the danger man in this match; Peters had not lost a singles match for three weeks.
So whilst Moore and Andrew Alderton each took two rubbers, both against Peters and Jeremy Corrin, 
Arnold Jago was quietly racking up three wins for Fishers IGA to keep his team well and truly in the contest. Jago did not drop a set for the night in singles competition.
The doubles were shared: Moore and Alderton took a hard-fought win over Geoff Peters and Jeremy Corrin in the first doubles 12-10, 6-11, 15-13, 12-10, and later Jago and Peters after dropping the first set, took good for Moore and Peter Edwards 10-12, 11-8, 11-3, 11-8.
With Peters restricted to just one singles win, this over Peter Edwards 13-11, 16-14, 11-7, the outcome of the game was left to Fishers IGA Jeremy Corrin and Max Miller Carpets Peter Edwards.
A very entertaining match followed; with both these players keen to hit winners at maximum velocity, there were sure to be some surprise winners, and some surprise near misses. And there was, with Edwards being the one to have more surprise winners than surprise misses, taking the win 7-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-9, 11-3 to give Max Miller Carpets the win in the eleventh and final rubber.
Final scores: 6 rubbers to 5 and 21 games to 19.
PENNANT THREE: –
Pinnacle Packers and Dunkley Scales went into this round joint leaders, whilst the second match was between sides sitting at the foot of the ladder.
– Weightmans Packaging 8 (Sabrina Fitzpatrick, Kerry Wallace 3, Stephan Ljubic 1) d Mallee Bearings 3 (Paul Fitzpatrick, Lachlan Prothero 1)
The contest for the fourth spot on the ladder this season will be between these two teams. Until this round, both these sides had won just one game each, and the rest of the season will determine which team takes the fourth spot in the finals.
If the result of this match is any indication, Weightmans Packaging should be the team to take that fourth spot. They were never troubled (on results at least) during this game, taking the first five rubbers.
That fact can be a bit misleading, however. Three of those five rubbers went to five sets, and the other two went to four sets. Indeed, there was only one three set rubber in the entire contest. The Mallee Bearings trio of Paul Fitzpatrick, Quentin Clark and Lachlan Prothero were right in this match, but could not pull off the wins.
For Weightmans Packaging, 
Sabrina Fitzpatrick and Kerry Wallace (subbing for the absent Helen Frania), both scored three wins, and number three Stephan Ljubic, one.
The doubles were shared; Sabrina and Kerry Wallace defeating Paul Fitzpatrick and Quentin Clark in four, and in the second Sabrina and Stephan, after taking the first set, were downed by Paul and Lachlan Prothero in another four setter.
The match of the game was probably that between Kerry Wallace and Quentin Clark. Clark took the first two sets, just, 17-15, 11-9, only for Wallace to hit form in the final three sets, taking them 5, 9 and 8.
Final scores: 8 rubbers to 3 and 26 games to 21.
– Pinnacle Packers 7 (Cambell McKenzie, Peter Mikhaeil 3) d Dunkley Scales 4 (Ajay Chowdhry, John Fitzpatrick, Kim Avers 1)
These two teams were joint leaders going into this game, and this win marks Pinnacle Packers as the team most likely to take the flag this season.
The Pinnacle Packers pair of 
Peter Mikhaeil and Cambell McKenzie are now second and first respectively on the aggregate table; McKenzie now five games clear of joint second placed Mikhaeil and Paul Fitzpatrick.
McKenzie and Mikhaeil both took three singles rubbers in this contest, and together the first doubles.
In contrast to the other game in this pennant, there were only four four set rubbers, the rest being completed in three sets.
For Dunkley Scales, Ajay Chowdhry, John Fitzpatrick and Kim Avers all took one rubber, defeating Chelsey Prothero. The second doubles also went to them, Chowdhry and Avers taking a comfortable win over Mikhaeil and Prothero in three sets.
Final scores: 7 rubbers to 4 and 22 games to 15.
