Feeling the heat! Shane Carmichael struggling under the balmy conditions with Andrew Cannard offering some handy advice and never to give up an opening to talk about his bright orange clogs.

Going into round four of the Sunraysia Table Tennis “Cash Converters” winter pennant both Regional Taxation Services and Tankard Dental were undefeated however in an interesting twist both were defeated. The shape of the ladder is now much closer as previously winless Mallee Bearings and Weightmans Packaging won their matches, one win now separates the six teams.

Pennant One:

– Cash Converters 7 (Rick McMeekin 3, Jackson Tung, Leslie Ncube 1) d Regional Taxation Services 4 (Stuart Kilmister 2, Mark Ljubic, Reece Kurrle 1)

On centre court Cash Converters recorded their second win of the season with a solid 7-4 win over Regional Taxation who were without Wayne Carmichael this round. He was replaced by Stuart Kilmister who performed well winning two singles despite a long break from the game. Cash Converters were well led by skipper Rick McMeekin who won three singles as well as participating in both double victories. Both Jackson Tung and Leslie Ncube won an important singles each, in support of McMeekin, to get their team the four points.

– Mallee Bearings 7 (Shannon Bowen, Matt Ljubic 2, Sony Sefer 1) d Tankard Dental 4 (Joel Thomas 3, Kate Carmichael 1)

In an even team display Mallee Bearings trio Shannon Bowen, Matt Ljubic and fill in Sony Sefer won two, two and one singles respectively in their 7-4 win over Tankard Dental. By recording their first win, Mallee Bearings inflicted the first defeat for Tankards. Both doubles were won by Mallee Bearings and the first was important as Bowen and Ljubic recovered from a two game deficit against Joel Thomas and Kate Carmichael to win 4-11 4-11 11-5 11-6 17-15 a great win. In all there were four five setters in this contest and all were won by Mallee Bearings.

Tankard Dental number one Joel Thomas won his three singles to remain undefeated in singles however it was unusual for his team to lose both doubles and his opponents next round will need to be on the alert.

– Weightmans Packaging 6 (Gavin Carmichael 3, Isaac Liu 2) d Exposed Signage/Apparel 5 (Matt Avers 2, Michael Hogarth, Andrew Cannard 1)

In the final match Weightmans Packaging scored their first victory of the season 6-5 over Exposed Signage in a close one. The victory however did not enable them to lift from the foot of the ladder. For Weightmans Gavin Carmichael and Isaac Liu won three and two singles respectively, both showing their best form of the season.

Liu scored a vital five set win in his first singles against fill in Andrew Cannard. This was the best match in this contest as both players attacked and defended well, Liu won 8-11 11-7 3-11 11-5 11-5 a great recovery after Cannard dominated early.

Liu and Carmichael allowed Weightmans an early ascendancy when they combined well to defeat rising youngster Matt Avers and Andrew Cannard in the first doubles. Exposed Signage finished fast but were unable to peg back Weightmans who started well.

Pennant Two: 

Another big win this week to ladder leaders Pinnacle Packers, Mallee Meats take their third win and Mallee Bearings take their third also, keeping themselves above Mallee Meats on the ladder in doing so.

– Pinnacle Packers 9 (Jason Gifkins 3, Kevin Johns, Peter Midgley 2) d MJM Automotive 2 (Bernadette Fitzpatrick 2)

Pinnacle Packers took another easy win this week, to remain undefeated and at the top of the ladder. Their opposition, MJM Automotive could not get a foothold in the game. Try as he might, MJM Automotive number two Tony Malycha could not get a win.  Malycha lost to Jason Gifkins in the opening rubber of the contest in five close sets 11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 11-9, 8-11.  Later he went down to Pinnacle Packers captain Kevin Johns in five too, and in the last round he gave Peter Midgley a workout, but again, lost, this time in four sets.

MJM Automotive captain Bernadette Fitzpatrick took two wins, downing Peter Midgley in straight sets and later Kevin Johns in five, but in between, she fell to the very busy, new-bat owner Jason Gifkins in a fast-paced five setter.

Pinnacle Packers were just too good.  Gifkins was the star of the night, taking three singles wins, his first since returning to game last year.  With two wins each by Johns and Midgley, plus both doubles, the Packers ran out easy winners.

Final scores:  9 rubbers to 2 and 29 games to 16.

– Mallee Meats 8 (Geoff Wright 3, Andrew Jones, Russell Walder 2) d Max Miller Carpets 3 (Ed Hung 2)

Mallee Meats kept Max Miller Carpets still without a win for the season, when they defeated them 8-3 in this match.

With Geoff Wright leading the way with three wins, and Andrew Jones and Russell Walder two each, the Mallee Meats trio had this game in hand early in the night.  They led, 2-1, 4-2, 5-3, then finished with a flourish, taking the last block of singles to make the score 8-3.

Only Ed Hung could offer any resistance for Max Miller Carpets.  Ed defeated Andrew Jones fairly easily in three sets, and later, another three set win against Russell Walder.  Geoff Wright had Ed’s measure though, Ed going down in four sets.

The only other rubber Max Miller Carpets won was the second doubles, Hung and Brendan Alderton outplayed Wright and Jones in five sets, 11-7, 11-9, 2-11, 5-11, 11-4.

Final scores:  8 rubbers to 3 and 26 games to 14.

– Mallee Bearings 7 (Lee Thomas, Peter Bishop 3, Terry Martin 1) d Weightmans Packaging 4 (Ashley Morrison, Arthur Paar 1)

 Mallee Bearings were without their captain Jackson Murphy for this game, but were very well served by replacement Peter Bishop.  In taking three singles wins, Bishop gave the team a chance of a win, which they took.

Mallee Bearings number Lee Thomas also took three wins; after a tight four set contest against Arthur Paar, Lee had to fight much harder against Kerry Wallace, only shaking Kerry off in the fifth set.  In contrast, her four set victory against Ashley Morrison was a little easier.

After eight rubbers the score was 4-4, but Weightmans Packaging really had only kept themselves in the game by virtue of taking both doubles.  With a singles win to Ashley Morrison and Arthur Paar (both players defeating Terry Martin), the score flattered Weightmans.

In the final block of singles it was all Mallee Bearings.  Thomas defeated Morrison in four sets, Bishop came back from two sets to one down against Arthur Paar to win in five, and Terry Martin defeated Kerry Wallace in four.

Final scores:  7 rubbers to 4 and 24 games to 21.

Pennant Three:

Mallee Meats proved too strong for Weightmans Packaging in this round, Tankard Dental thumped MJM Automotive, and Regional Taxation Services took their first win for the season.

– Mallee Meats 8 (Claire Ljubic 3, Rod Healy, Marcus Cimino 2) d Weightmans Packaging 3 (Paul Fitzpatrick, Sam Hensgen 1)

Mallee Meats remain undefeated, and at the top of the ladder after this Round 4 win against Weightmans Packaging.

As well as the team being on top of the ladder, Mallee Meats captain Rod Healy and his number Clarie Ljubic occupy first and second on the aggregate table.  This is shaping as a great season for this side.

Healy suffered his first loss for the season in this game – at the hands of Sam Hensgen, a player who has come close in every match so far to causing upsets.  In this game he pulled it off.  Sam led two sets to love 11-9, 11-9, only to see Healy come to life in the next two, taking them 4-11, 4-11.  Sam was up to the task however, and took a great win, downing Healy 11-9 in the fifth set.

The next rubber was the first doubles, Hensgen and Paul Fitzpatrick downing Healy and Ljubic in four sets convincingly  11-5, 7-11, 11-7, 11-1, and at that stage the Weightmans Packing side led three rubbers to one.

In what was then a great disappointment for them, they failed to take another rubber in the entire match, Mallee Meats taking seven in a row.

After his great performance against Healy, Hensgen could not keep Marcus Cimino and Claire Ljubic at bay in his clashes with them, falling easily to Cimino in four sets, but lost a topsy-turvy five setter to Ljubic 11-9, 10-12, 1-11, 14-12, 7-11.

All credit to Mallee Meats though.  Claire Ljubic swept all before her, again, in this game, defeating Karly Leach in three, then Paul Fitzpatrick and Hensgen in five.  Ljubic has lost just one singles rubber for the season and claims not to have practiced over the summer break, putting her new-found form down to a “new mind-set” …

In the wash-up, Ljubic took three wins, Healy and Cimino two each for Mallee Meats, and for Weightmans only Fitzpatrick and Hensgen, one each.

Final scores:  8 rubbers to 3 and 27 games to 16.

– Tankard Dental 10 (Michael Hensgen, Rohan Reimers, Zac Healy 3) d MJM Automotive 1

Tankard Dental decimated MJM Automotive in this match.

The match was won after six rubbers; in that time MJM Automotive had won only four sets, and did not get their first win until rubber number eight.

Tankard Dental captain Michael Hensgen and his number three Zac Healy have been doing the damage over the last two rounds, each taking three wins.  In this game, Rohan Reimers joined in; he too took three rubbers.

MJM Automotive had no answers to their opponents.  There was only one five set match all night.  They were just not in the hunt.

Tankard Dental are now second on the ladder, and Hensgen and Zac Healy occupy third and fourth on the aggregate.

Final scores:  10 rubbers to 1 and 31 games to 10.

– Regional Taxation Services 6 (Quentin Clark 2, Vin Brown. David Sergi 1) d Dunkley Scales 5 (Cambell McKenzie 3, Rachel Fitzpatrick 2)

Until this round, these two sides had remained without a win, so it was fitting that the best game in this pennant should be decided in the fifth set of the eleventh rubber.

Dunkley Scales seemingly did everything except win this match.  Cambell McKenzie took three singles wins, his number two Rachel Fitzpatrick took two, the team scored 24 games to Regional Taxation Services 22, fill-in Mick Bacon played his heart out – each of his singles matches went to five sets, but he lost them all, and they failed to get the four premiership points.

On the other hand, Regional Taxation Services took the wins where they could, and by winning both doubles kept the pressure on their opponents to keep coming up with wins in the singles, which in the end, they failed to do.

Wins to Vin Brown over Mick Bacon, Quentin Clark against Rachel Fitzpatrick and the first doubles gave Regional Taxation Services an early 3-1 lead.  Dunkley Scales took two of the next three singles; McKenzie downing Brown and Fitzpatrick too good for David Sergi, but then the second doubles went to Regional Taxation Services to make the score 5-3.

McKenzie and Fitzpatrick won the first two singles in final block to even the score, then it was up to Mick Bacon and David Sergi to decide the outcome.  In a high standard match, Bacon took the early lead, two sets to love 11-8, 14-12, but Sergi, through sheer determination kept himself in the game, took the next three sets 11-8, 13-11, 11-8 to take the match.

A very entertaining match in which there were only two three set contests.

Final scores:  6 rubbers to 5 and 22 games to 24.

Pennant Four:

At the conclusion of round 4 matches three of the five teams sit with two wins while the remaining two teams have tasted success once. One win separates five teams with one match to be played to complete the first round of matches. The match ups this coming week reveal that if results went the right way all teams could be sitting 2 wins, 2 losses, 1 bye…..time will tell.

 The singles aggregate is also very interesting with Nick Kiapekos and Ryan Hensgen leading by one on nine wins, they have the bye this round while Leonie Dunkley and Sabrina Fitzpatrick following closely on 8 wins, while John Fitzpatrick who had a quiet round by his standards is one further back on 7, a close tussle is in the making.

– Dunkley Scales 7(Leonie Dunkley 3, Joel Hogarth 2, Jacinta Ljubic 1) d Weightmans Packaging 4 (Sabrina Fitzpatrick 2, Helen Frania 1)

Going into this match these teams occupied second and third on the ladder with exactly the same wins and losses and rubbers for and against. It was always going to be close however both teams were without their number three players. Jacinta Ljubic replaced Caitlin Elstone for Dunkley’s while Tom Cooper came into the Weightmans team to replace Mike Sheather. This was Tom’s first match in senior table tennis.

Dunkley’s took the points 7-4 in a good contest. The doubles were shared and after the second doubles the scores stood at four rubbers all. The last block of singles featured three good four set tussles allgoing the way of Dunkley’s.Skipper Leonie matched up against Sabrina Fitzpatrick and they had a hard fought match with many long rallies. Leonie was able to win 11-6 11-8 9-11 12-10 in a match of great concentration by both players.

The consistent Joel Hogarth then took on Weightmans Helen Frania and again another lengthy match with Joel recording a solid 11-8 8-11 11-9 11-8 win. Joel has now won two matches for the past three rounds offering good support to his skipper Leonie.

In the remaining match fill in Jacinta Ljubic recorded a 11-8 8-11 11-6 11-3 victory over the improving Tom Cooper.

– Mallee Meats 7 (Ryan Hensgen 3, Nick Kiapekos 2) d Regional Taxation Services 4 (John Fitzpatrick, Shirley Whitecross, Brice Lock 1)

Mallee Meats with both Ryan Hensgen and Nick Kiapekos in top form winning three singles proved too strong for Regional Taxation Services winning 7-4. Both teams now have tasted success twice.

Skipper Ryan Hensgen played well and his match against opposing number one John Fitzpatrick was a beauty. It went to five and could have gone either way but it was Ryan who came out on top 11-9 6-11 11-6 6-11 11-9, a nail biter. While Hensgen played well it was probably his team mate Nick Kiapekos who proved to be the match winner. Nick has improved immensely this pennant and by winning three singles he was instrumental in his team grabbing the four points.

Ryan and Nick combined to win the first doubles in straight sets over John Fitzpatrick and Shirley Whitecross to cap a good night for them both. The second doubles was a ripper when John Fitzpatrick combined with Brice Lock to record a five set win 11-4 11-9 8-11 11-13 11-7 against Ryan Hensgen and Luke Ljubic