0
0
Sunraysia Table Tennis Summer Pennant results Round 14: –
PENNANT ONE
– Fishers IGA 7 (Wayne Carmichael 3, Shane Carmichael 2) d Max Miller Carpets 4 (Matt Ljubic 2, Mark Dorman, Kevin Johns 1)
– Mallee Bearings 10 (Rick McMeekin, Jackson Tung 3, Michael Hogarth 2) d Tankard Dental 1 ( Mark Ljubic 1)
– Weightmans Packaging 6 (Gavin Carmichael, Kate Carmichael, Matt Avers 2) d Exposed Signage/Apparel 5 (Joel Thomas 3)
PENNANT TWO:
– Weightmans Packaging 8 (Connor Lavery 3, Lee Thomas 2, Andrew Alderton 1) d Tankard Dental 3 (Arthur Paar, Rod Healy, Tony Malycha 1)
– Bishop Builders 7 (Peter Bishop, Josh Carmichael, Jeremy Corrin 2) d MJM Automotive 4 (Geoff Wright 3)
– Fishers IGA 6 (John Gray 3, Brendan Alderton 1) d Mallee Meats 5 (Ashley Morrison, Arnold Jago 2, Andrew Alderton 1)
– Pinnacle Packers 6 (Peter Midgley 3, Peter Fitzpatrick, Paul Fitzpatrick 1) d Mallee Bearings 5 (Reece Kurrle, Andrew Jones 2)
PENNANT THREE:
– Fishers IGA 7 (Kerry Wallace 3, Ben Hosking, Stefan Ljubic 1) d Dunkley Scales 4 (Sabrina Fitzpatrick, Kim Avers 2)
– Tankard Dental 6 (Michael Hensgen 3, Claire Ljubic 2) d MJM Automotive 5 (Mick Bacon 2, John Fitzpatrick, Anthony Sergi 1)
– Mallee Meats 7 (Quentin Clark 3, Sam Hensgen 2, David Sergi 1) d Weightmans Packaging 4 (Huseyin Ismail 2, Karly Leach 1)
This competition has unearthed another promising youngster in Connor Lavery, the number two for Weightmans Packaging. Lavery took 3 wins including the scalp of Arthur Paar.
PENNANT ONE:
With fourteen rounds now played and one round to play of the Sunraysia Table Tennis winter pennant the Mallee Bearings juggernaut has continued on its merry way. Two rounds ago they accounted for Exposed Signage/Apparel ten rubbers to one, although Joel Thomas was out of the opposition due to illness. This round the score line was the same and this time the opposition was Tankard Dental who were at full strength.
– Mallee Bearings 10 (Rick McMeekin, Jackson Tung 3, Michael Hogarth 2) d Tankard Dental 1 ( Mark Ljubic 1)
Mallee Bearings skipper 
Rick McMeekin has his team peaking at the correct time and this was their fourth win on the trot and their seventh win in the past eight rounds, their only loss was against top team Weightmans Packaging who are their opposition in round fifteen and this will be a gauge to see where both teams stand going into the finals.
Against Tankards on the centre court, “Cool Breeze” McMeekin and the consistent Jackson Tung won three singles each while team mate Michael Hogarth continued his good form of late winning two singles and with this form Mallee Bearings despite sitting third on the ladder are firming to be flag favourites.
– Weightmans Packaging 6 (Gavin Carmichael, Kate Carmichael, Matt Avers 2) d Exposed Signage/Apparel 5 (Joel Thomas 3)
Ladder leader Weightmans Packaging in an even display accounted for fourth team Exposed/Signage and Apparel 6-5, on the stage court, despite
Joel Thomas running rampant winning three singles and taking part in both doubles victories. He is the form player of the competition and in thirty nine singles matches he has remained undefeated and has not looked like dropping a match as he dominates the opposition.
The Weightmans trio of Gavin Carmichael, Kate Carmichael and Matt Avers each won two singles after dropping both doubles which has been a rarity this season.
– Fishers IGA 7 (Wayne Carmichael 3, Shane Carmichael 2) d Max Miller Carpets 4 (Matt Ljubic 2, Mark Dorman, Kevin Johns 1)
In the remaining match, on the grand stand court, second placed Fishers IGA proved too strong for Max Miller Carpets. Fishers were off to a flyer winning five of the first six matches, two singles wins by fill in Shane Carmichael in his first two matches early contributed in a big way along with the first doubles when he partnered brother Wayne Carmichael against Mark Dorman and Matt Ljubic to win in straight sets. Carmichael S scored an excellent singles win over opposing number one Mark Dorman in four sets after defeating Kevin Johns in four in the first match of the night.
Wayne Carmichael again won three singles and also participated in both doubles victories which helped gain the four points for Fishers however he had his hands full with the fast improving Matt Ljubic who actually held two match points late in the fifth set. 
Ljubic already this season has defeated three number one players and he was on the cusp of claiming a fourth scalp when he took a 10-8 lead against Carmichael. This would have been his greatest win to date in his short pennant one career however it was not to be as the experienced Carmichael clawed his way back to claim the last four points to win 11-2, 7-11 8-11 11-7 12-10 in a fantastic match.
The Carpeters were potentially still in the finals race going into this round however this loss finished any chance they had of taking part in the pointy end of the season.
PENNANT TWO:
Third placed Weightmans Packaging gave a loud message to second placed Tankard Dental that the fight for second spot is still on; Fishers IGA downed Mallee Meats in a performance in which Mallee Meats would be disappointed; and the two bottom teams, Pinnacle Packers and Bishop Builders conjured up wins against Mallee Bearings and MJM Automotive respectively.
– Weightmans Packaging 8 (Connor Lavery 3, Lee Thomas 2, Andrew Alderton 1) d Tankard Dental 3 (Arthur Paar, Rod Healy, Tony Malycha 1)
Together with ladder leaders Fishers IGA, Weightmans Packaging have been the form team of the second half of this competition. Both these teams have recorded just the one loss, marking themselves out as the two-most-likely to play in the Grand Final.
Weightmans, however, did not have such a great first half of the season, with the consequence that their opponents in the match, Tankard Dental were two games ahead in second, going into the game.
Tankard Dental have won their last five games, including a close 6-5 victory over ladder leaders Fishers IGA. They have been playing confidently.
Weightmans continued their great form in this contest. Captain Lee Thomas, who is vying with Reece Kurrle for aggregate honours, almost made it a clean sweep of wins, only losing to opposing captain Arthur Paar in the final round of singles when the result was already decided.
This competition has unearthed another promising youngster in Connor Lavery, the number two for Weightmans Packaging. 
Lavery went one better than his captain in this game, taking three impressive wins. After losing the first set to Rod Healy 8-11, Lavery controlled the game after that, taking the next three 6, 8 and 6. Next up he met Paar. Connor showed his true potential in this rubber; trailing 12-10, 7-11, 4-11 he held his nerve and outplayed Paar in the final two sets, winning them 11-9, 13-11 to take an upset win. His third win against his opposite number Tony Malycha was a straightforward 11-8, 11-6, 11-8.
Paar’s defeat by Lavery was preceded by his loss to Weightmans number three Andrew Alderton. Alderton was not intimidated by the better credentialed Paar and so played his natural game, winning 7-11, 11-2, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6 to give his team a great start, they having won their first three singles, following the win by Lavery over Healy and Thomas in four sets over Malycha.
Things only got worse for Tankard Dental after that. Alderton, fresh from his win over Paar, paired with Thomas to see off Paar and Malycha in five sets in the first doubles. Thomas and Lavery made it 6-0 in the first two games of the next round of singles, with wins over Healy and Paar to earn the four premiership points.
The strong pairing of Thomas and Lavery made short work of the second doubles, conceding just 18 points to Paar and Healy to finish them off in straight sets.
This big loss has dented Tankard Dental’s plans for the finals. Next round they come up against ladder leaders Fishers IGA with whom they have a one win, one loss record, and Weightmans play fourth placed Mallee Bearings and those two teams also have a one win one loss record against each other. If Tankard Dental lose, and Weightmans Packaging win, Weightmans will secure second on the ladder, and the “second chance” spot in the finals.
Final scores: 8 rubbers to 3 and 29 games to 17.
– Fishers IGA 6 (John Gray 3, Brendan Alderton 1) d Mallee Meats 5 (Ashley Morrison, Arnold Jago 2, Andrew Alderton 1)
This game was won and lost in the first doubles.
As expected of him, John Gray took three singles wins to give his side as good a chance of winning as ever, including his win over opposing captain Ashley Morrison in a hard fought five setter.
At the other end of the table, the Mallee Meats trio of Ashley Morrison, Arnold Jago and Andrew Alderton, subbing for Cambell McKenzie, picked up two, two and one win respectively.
Frustratingly for Mallee Meats they lost both doubles, and it was the first doubles which was a win-gone-begging. Morrison and Jago led two sets to love, 11-5, 12-10 against Gray and Seval Fuat in an even contest. The Mallee Meats pair just couldn’t finish their opponents off, and all the while Gray and Fuat snuck back into the game, taking the third and fourth sets 11-8, 11-9. By the time the fifth set came around, Morrison and Jago had run out of tricks, and the Fishers pair took that set dominantly 11-5.
The game was decided in the eleventh rubber when the two number threes, the Alderton brothers, played. Andrew has not yet got the better of brother Brendan, but surely hoped that this night he might; he had doubled up in the Weightmans-Tankard game and played havoc there, defeating opposing captain Arthur Paar, and in the second round of singles in this match had cleaned up Seval Fuat in straight sets.
Brendan was having none of it though, and although Andrew got close, Brendan was too good winning in three, 11-9, 11-7, 12-10 to give his side a 6-5 win.
Final scores: 6 rubbers to 5 and 19 games to 20.
– Pinnacle Packers 6 (Peter Midgley 3, Peter Fitzpatrick, Paul Fitzpatrick 1) d Mallee Bearings 5 (Reece Kurrle, Andrew Jones 2)
Playing his best table tennis of the season, Peter Midgley led Pinnacle Packers to their third win of the season, against the more highly fancied, fourth placed Mallee Bearings.
Taking three wins for just the third time this season, Midgley appeared to be in trouble against Andrew Jones in the first round of singles. Jones took the first set 11-9, and up until half way through the second set,
Midgley’s play was anything but convincing, however he willed himself to do better, and took the second 12-10. He followed this up with a similar score in the third, and kept his concentration up to finish the match off in four. That was a danger game, as Jones is hard to get away, but having done that, Midgley played with more confidence, and the game around which the match hung was his clash with opposing captain Reece Kurrle. Kurrle currently sits on top of the aggregate with Lee Thomas and is nothing if not consistent. This match displayed other facets of Midgley’s play; he was forced to play more top spin smashes than normal, however, he was up to task, and after an entertaining five sets it was he who won 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 12-14, 11-8 to at that stage put his team in front 5-4.
The Mallee Bearings team was not without winners though, both Kurrle and Jones took two singles wins to keep their side in the contest. These two also took the first doubles against Midgley and Peter Fitzpatrick. Neither side could dominate, and when the score reached two all, it looked like the fifth set would be tense, but a string of points to Mallee Bearings saw the game slip away from the Pinnacle Packers pair, and Kurrle and Jones took the fifth set comfortably 11-6.
After that disappointment, Midgley was not about to let the second doubles get away without a fight. Playing with fill-in Paul Fitzpatrick, Pinnacle Packers evened the score at 4-4 after a great five set win over Kurrle and Peter Edwards.
With both sides needing two of the finals three singles rubbers, it was Pinnacle Packers who prevailed. Midgley scored the first, with that win over Kurrle, Jones evened at 5-5 with a straight sets victory over Peter Fitzpatrick, and so it was left to Peter Edwards and Paul Fitzpatrick to decide the outcome. Despite this being only his third appearance in Pennant Two, Fitzpatrick showed his class with an 11-6, 11-5, 11-4 scoreline to seal the win for the Packers.
Final scores: 6 rubbers to 5 and 20 games all.
– Bishop Builders 7 (Peter Bishop, Josh Carmichael, Jeremy Corrin 2) d MJM Automotive 4 (Geoff Wright 3)
Bishop Builders picked up their third win for the season with a good team effort against MJM Automotive.
The Bishop Builders trio of Peter Bishop, Josh Carmichael and Jeremy Corrin each took two wins, all defeating Terry Martin and fill-in Tom Morrison.
MJM Automotive captain Geoff Wright went undefeated in singles play, but his team-mates could not add to his tally of wins. Wright’s number two Terry Martin has had a very disappointing season, and has won just three games in the last six rounds he has contested. The only other rubber the team could manage on this occasion was the first doubles, Wright and Martin defeating Bishop and Josh Carmichael in four sets.
To round off their night, Peter Bishop and Jeremy Corrin took the second doubles in four sets over Wright and Morrison.
Bishop Builders number 3
Jeremy Corrin played well; he downed Martin in five sets, 12-10 in the fifth, then Morrison in three, and held his own against Geoff Wright for the first two sets, winning the first 11-9, losing the second 11-13, before Wright got a handle on Jeremy‘s play and accelerated away with the final two sets 3 and 3.
Final scores: 7 rubbers to 4 and 25 games to 17.
In a fortuitous turn of events, the final round of the home-and-away games features 1 v. 2, 3 v. 4, 5 v. 6 and 7 v. 8. As mentioned earlier, Weightmans Packaging, who currently sit third, could steal second spot from Tankard Dental. Also, the aggregate ladder has come to an interesting climax. Lee Thomas and Reece Kurrle both lead with 34 games apiece, and have to play each other in the 3 v. 4 match, whilst just one game away on 33 games, is John Gray. Any one of those three players could lift the prize.
What is certain that the four teams who occupy the top four positions will play in the finals; there is just that question mark over who will be resident in the number two spot.
PENNANT THREE:
In this second last round of the home and away season, ladder leaders Mallee Meats extinguished any hope that Weightmans Packaging might have had of making the finals; second placed Fishers IGA confirmed their finals credentials with a strong win over fourth placed Dunkley Scales, and bottom of the ladder team Tankard Dental frustrated third placed MJM Automotive.
– Mallee Meats 7 (Quentin Clark 3, Sam Hensgen 2, David Sergi 1) d Weightmans Packaging 4 (Huseyin Ismail 2, Karly Leach 1)
Going into this game, Weightmans Packaging were an outside chance of displacing Dunkley Scales for fourth spot on the ladder and making the finals. To make fourth, of course they had to win this game and win it well enough to displace Dunkley Scales on percentage.
That however, did not happen. Mallee Meats racked up another win this round, their twelfth from fourteen so far, and so kept Weightmans Packaging in fifth spot.
Aggregate leader Quentin Clark once again took three singles wins, and barring any misfortune to him, looks like he will take the aggregate prize, as he is still two games clear of second-placed Kerry Wallace, 37 games to 35.
Perhaps Quentin did not practice much over the recent break as he had to work for his wins; Weightmans number three Daniel Griffiths kept him honest in Quentin’s 11-8, 13-11, 11-7 win, opposing captain Karly Leach after being two sets to love down, lost in the fifth set 11-9, and Huseyin Ismail almost took his rubber to five sets too. Huseyin improved as his match progressed, but in the end Quentin won 11-3, 11-6, 9-11, 19-17.
Quentin’s team-mates contributed wins – Sam Hensgen, sitting third on the aggregate and only three games behind his captain, took two,
and David Sergi, for the fifth week in a row took one, to bring his aggregate tally to eight. This is a good performance from this new player, as he is now able to hold his own against many players.
The first doubles also went the way of Mallee Meats: Clark and Hensgen too solid for Leach and Ismail, winning 13-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9.
Final scores: 7 rubbers to 4 and 22 games to 20.
– Fishers IGA 7 (Kerry Wallace 3, Ben Hosking, Stefan Ljubic 1) d Dunkley Scales 4 (Sabrina Fitzpatrick, Kim Avers 2)
Led by Kerry Wallace, Fishers IGA notched up their seventh win from the last eight in this round, with this solid win over Dunkley Scales.
Wallace has hit her straps, and this team is the favourite to play Mallee Meats at the end of the season. 
For the last six weeks, Wallace has won three singles, and this week partnered her team-mates to wins in both doubles.
Sabrina Fitzpatrick and Kim Avers, meanwhile, took two singles wins each for Dunkley Scales, but with both doubles going in straight sets to the other end of the table, the team was unable to keep enough pressure on their opponents to engineer any kind of an upset.
At 3-1 down after the first doubles, Dunkley Scales need a good second round of singles to keep them in the match, and although they won two of the three, Fishers were on the brink of running away with the match. The first of those singles was Sabrina against Ben Hosking. Sabrina was down two sets to love, and needed all her guile to firstly get back into the match, then to overcome Hosking. She won 11-13, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6. The third of those singles was Avers against Stefan Ljubic. Kim led two sets to love after two tight sets, 13-11, 11-9. Ljubic took the next two 11-7, 12-10 to take the match to the fifth sets. The fifth was close, but Kim had the edge and won it 11-8. Had the Fishers pair won those two rubbers, this would have turned the game into a rout, but full credit to the ladies; they kept themselves in the game.
Final scores: 7 rubbers to 4 and 25 games to 14.
– Tankard Dental 6 (Michael Hensgen 3, Claire Ljubic 2) d MJM Automotive 5 (Mick Bacon 2, John Fitzpatrick, Anthony Sergi 1)
After having worked hard in recent rounds to take third on the ladder, MJM Automotive were hoping that this clash with bottom-of-the-ladder Tankard Dental would provide them with a win and a nice lead in to the finals. Tankard Dental were having none of that though, and came away with a well earned victory.
Although his team has won only three games for the season, Tankard Dental captain Michael Hensgen sits fourth on the aggregate, only six games from the lead. And with Claire Ljubic joining the team in round five, the line-up became more solid, even though it took until round nine to record their first win. Including this round, they have taken three wins in their last six matches, whereas MJM Automotive in the same time have won only two.
Hensgen and Ljubic it was then, who got the team home. Hensgen took three wins, Ljubic two, and the pair of them took a keenly contested first doubles rubber against Mick Bacon and John Fitzpatrick 13-15, 11-8, 11-5, 10-12, 11-8.
MJM Automotive were right in the contest up until the tenth rubber; captain Mick Bacon won two singles, but significantly not the one against opposing number one, Hensgen. 
Hensgen was too consistent winning that one 11-6, 5-11, 12-10, 11-3. John Fitzpatrick and Anthony Sergi took one win each, and Bacon and Sergi the second doubles in an entertaining five set contest 12-10, 8-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-9.
Although he lost to both Michael Hensgen and Claire Ljubic, Anthony Sergi gave a good account of himself in this game; against Hensgen he lost in five sets, and then in four against the fast-paced big hitting Claire.
Final scores: 6 rubbers to 5 and 21 games all.
