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Sunraysia Table Tennis Winter Pennant round 12: –
PENNANT ONE:
– Max Miller Carpets 7 (Gavin Carmichael 3, Shane Carmichael, Ed Hung 1) d Tankard Dental 4 (Mark Dorman, Nicholas Dorman 2)
– Dunkley Scales 8 (Shannon Bowen, Andrew Cannard 3, Arthur Paar 1) d Fishers IGA 3 (Wayne Carmichael, John Gray 1)
– Weightmans Packaging 6 (Joel Thomas 3, Bernadette Fitzpatrick, Michael Hogarth 1) d Mallee Bearings 5 (Matt Ljubic, Mark Ljubic 2)
PENNANT TWO:
– Tankard Dental 6 (Ross Humphreys, Matt Avers 2, Josh Carmichael 1) d Pinnacle Packers 5 (Peter Midgley 3, Terry Martin 1)
– Weightmans Packaging 7 (Sony Sefer, Arnold Jago, Tony Malycha 2) d Spanline 4 (Geoff Wright 3)
– Max Miller Carpets 8 (Ashley Morrison, Cole Keegan, Aidan Moore 2) d Fishers IGA 3 (Leon Brown 3)
PENNANT THREE:
– Bishop Builders 7 (Peter Kelly, Mick Bacon, Jeff Hards 2) d Fishers IGA 4 (Ajay Chowdrey 2, Jeremy Corrin 1)
– Weightmans Packaging 9 (Rod Healy, Jai Green 3, Jol Peters 2) d Mallee Bearings 2 (Peter Mikhaeil 1)
– Dunkley Scales 6 (Colin Moore, Karly Leach 2, Sam Hensgen 1) d Pinnacle Packers 5 (Rachel Fitzpatrick, Peter Edwards 2)
PENNANT FOUR:
– Sunny Daily 7 (Sue Green, Paul Reyes 2, Shirley Whitecross 1) d Max Miller Carpets 4 (Kumail Jaffry 3, John Fitzpatrick 1)
– Fishers IGA 8 (Cambell McKenzie 3, Soyel Zahidi 2, Ben Hosking 1) d Weightmans Packaging 3 (Quentin Clark 2, Kim Avers 1)
The Midweek star this week is Andrew Cannard who did what many have tried for the past 20 odd years; knocking off Wayne Carmichael. Yes Sunday arvo’s training with Hurricane Robinson is definately paying off.
PENNANT ONE:
Round twelve of Sunraysia table tennis pennant one matches featured a big turn around by second placed Dunkley’s Scales in their match against top team Fishers IGA, and a fantastic struggle between Weightmans Packaging and Mallee Bearings who were fighting it out for fourth going into this round. The standard of table tennis went up a level in this round as finals are nearing and the battle for the top four hots up.
– Dunkley Scales 8 (Shannon Bowen, Andrew Cannard 3, Arthur Paar 1) d Fishers IGA 3 (Wayne Carmichael, John Gray 1)
In the clash of one and two on the ladder second placed Dunkley’s Scales recovered from a two match losing streak to dominate ladder leader Fishers IGA with a resounding 8-3 victory on the stage court.
This match had historians looking through the record books as long time champ Wayne Carmichael was defeated in two of his three singles matches, this is certainly a rarity and records reveal it is over twenty years since this took place, however he was gracious in defeat and both matches were in lengthy five setters. 
Andrew Cannard inflicted the first defeat on Carmichael when he recovered from a two game deficit to claw his way back into the match. Carmichael after the match indicated he seemed to be in control early however Cannard would not go away and in a high class match he came back to win 5-11 8-11 11-6 11-8 11-6. This was a commendable victory by Cannard who recently won the singles aggregate in his grade in the Victorian Country Championships. Cannard is also training regularly through the week with “Hurricane” Robinson and his game continues to improve. The Dream team appear to be back on track!!!
Whilst the score line looked one sided, 8-3, there were actually four five setters with all going the way of Dunkley’s. Late in the match Shannon Bowen also enjoyed victory over Carmichael and again this was a top class affair. Bowen took a lead of two games to one before Carmichael steadied to level the match and at 5-1 in the fifth Carmichael looked in sight of victory however Bowen stormed home winning ten of the next twelve points to grab victory and give his team the lead of 6-2. Both Bowen and Andrew Cannard won two singles however in another five setter against John Gray, Cannard was under extreme pressure before taking the point 11-8 12-14 13-15 11-2 12-10 a marathon !
Dunkley’s number three Arthur Paar then accounted for Kevin Johns in another lengthy five setter, to give his team the 8-3 victory and bring Dunkley’s to within one win of top position.
– Weightmans Packaging 6 (Joel Thomas 3, Bernadette Fitzpatrick, Michael Hogarth 1) d Mallee Bearings 5 (Matt Ljubic, Mark Ljubic 2)
In another action packed match, this one on the grandstand court, Weightmans Packaging distanced themselves by four points from their opponent Mallee Bearings when they won a close fought match 6-5. Again Joel Thomas was in good form winning three singles to remain undefeated and he now has taken the lead in the singles aggregate race with three rounds to play. His match against opposing number one Mark Ljubic was amazing to say the least.
Ljubic was pleased to lead 5-4 in the first however that was the last time he troubled the scorers when Thomas then took absolute control winning the next twenty nine points to win 11-5 11-0 11-0. Ljubic indicated after the match that he thought he was hitting the ball well however Thomas just lifted a gear as he only can and swept through the match in outstanding style.
Thomas’s team mates Mick Hogarth and Bernadette Fitzpatrick both won critical matches in this encounter when they both defeated Kate Carmichael in classic five set victories. Hogarth took victory 11-9 in the fifth while young Fitzpatrick won 11-8 in another tremendous five setter. These matches indicated how close the match was and for Weightmans this could be a season defining victory.
– Max Miller Carpets 7 (Gavin Carmichael 3, Shane Carmichael, Ed Hung 1) d Tankard Dental 4 (Mark Dorman, Nicholas Dorman 2)
The remaining match on centre court saw Max Miller Carpets record their third victory in as many rounds, a better record of any team in the competition over this period, when they accounted for bottom team Tankard Dental 7-4.
This win allows the Carpeters to retain third position on the ladder albeit by percentage from Weightmans Packaging. Victory in both doubles assisted the cause in the win. 
Carpeters skipper Gavin Carmichael won three singles while for Tankard Dental Mark and Nicholas Dorman won two each. The Carpeters next round meet Weightmans Packaging which will enable the victor to move to outright third on the ladder.
PENNANT TWO:
The match between the two teams at the head of the ladder turned out to be a fizzer, and it was left to Tankard Dental, who sat on the bottom of the ladder to provide the game of the round.
– Tankard Dental 6 (Ross Humphreys, Matt Avers 2, Josh Carmichael 1) d Pinnacle Packers 5 (Peter Midgley 3, Terry Martin 1)
Tankard Dental has the experienced Ross Humphreys for captain, and youngsters Josh Carmichael and Matt Avers. The youngsters are treating this as a learning year, and by all indications, are learning quickly.
Pinnacle Packers boasts the aggregate leader, Peter Midgley, Terry Martin, who sits tenth on the ladder, and for this match, Alan Erskine subbing for Glen Bell.
The game was close, and looked to be in the Packers’ grasp at 5 rubbers to 4 with two to go – but I am getting ahead of myself.
The Packers drew first blood with an impressive come from behind two sets to love win by Terry Martin over Josh Carmichael. Carmichael looked to continue on from where he left off last week, and was impressive, taking the first two sets 11-6, 11-4. Martin, not one to give up, played some great table tennis to level at two sets all, after taking the third and fourth sets 11-7, 11-8. In a close fifth set, Terry saw Josh off 11-8.
Tankard Dental responded with a three set win by Humphreys over Erskine.
Then it was the Packers turn again, Midgley playing his first rubber of the night, and losing the first set to Matt Avers 11-13. Midgley’s experience came to fore after that, taking the next three sets 5, 5 and 4.
The Packers then went to a 3-1 lead courtesy of an easy doubles victory.
Humphreys clawed one rubber back, when he defeated Martin 15-13, 11-3, 6-11, 11-3.
Midgley next for the Packers, in three sets over Carmichael.
Next up, Avers showing his continued improvement in this grade, defeated Alan Erskine in straight sets, then followed that up in the second doubles when he partnered Humphreys to another straight sets win over Midgley and Erskine.
That made it 4 all with the final round of singles to come.
The captains met, Midgley winning comfortably in three 11-9, 12-10, 11-7, not letting Humphreys into the contest.
The next rubber was the one which set the Tankard Dental side on their way to victory. Terry Martin blitzed Matt Avers in the first 11-1, before Avers could settle. From then on it was a struggle. Martin took the second set 13-11, to be within sight of victory, but Avers had other ideas. He confidently took the third 11-7, repelled Martin in the fourth 13-11, 
and then outlasted Martin in the fifth 18-16 to take a telling win.
Carmichael and Erskine met in the final contest, and after it was a set each, Carmichael was in control to take the final two 6 and 8.
A thoroughly deserved win, and the way things are in this grade, this team, although still on the bottom of the ladder, could make the finals, as there is only two games between them and second placed Spanline.
Final scores: 6 rubbers to 5 and 21 games to 19.
– Max Miller Carpets 8 (Ashley Morrison, Cole Keegan, Aidan Moore 2) d Fishers IGA 3 (Leon Brown 3)
Fishers captain Leon Brown is having a good season – he sits only one game short of the lead in the individual aggregate. His team, however, is not, and after this round is at the bottom of the ladder.
Brown again scored three singles wins in this match, and was the dominant player in the two doubles contests. However, despite his best efforts, and despite both those doubles going to five sets, the only rubbers Fishers scored in this match were those three singles.
Seven three set contests showed this to be a one sided contest, although three of those seven were the three rubbers scored by Brown. Opposing captain Ashley Morrison took his two wins in three sets, also.
Max Miller’s Cole Keegan and Aidan Moore continue to improve as this season progresses, they both had the better of the experienced Seval Fuat and the unorthodox Geoff Peters in their wins.
So, Max Millers had the game won by virtue of their singles wins, and it was in the doubles where the real contests took place.
Morrison and Keegan took the first two sets in their match against Brown and Peters 11-9, 11-6, only to lose the next two 8-11, 9-11. The Fishers pair could not sustain the pressure they had applied in those two sets, and Morrison and Keegan were largely untroubled in the fifth, taking it 11-6.
The second doubles was even better, 
Morrison and Aidan Moore against Brown and Fuat. The first two sets were even 9-11, 11-9, the Max Miller pair had to work harder for the third 13-11, then the fourth slipped away 10-12. The Fishers pair were close in the final set, but not close enough, Morrison and Moore taking it 11-8, in what was the best rubber of the night.
Final scores: 8 rubbers to 3 and 27 games to 12.
– Weightmans Packaging 7 (Sony Sefer, Arnold Jago, Tony Malycha 2) d Spanline 4 (Geoff Wright 3)
Spanline was the early pacesetter in this grade, leading the competition for most of its twelve rounds. Weightmans have taken control though, in the last month, and this clash was a bit of an arm-wrestle, to see if Spanline could come back.
Well, on the evidence of this game, Spanline won’t seriously challenge Weightmans. Weightmans had three scoring players, Spanline had one.
Weightmans Sony Sefer, Arnold Jago and Tony Malycha all scored two singles wins – they each defeated Matt Burns and Peter Fitzpatrick. Added to victory in the second doubles, this gave Weightmans a healthy win.
After six rubbers it was three rubbers apiece, but Spanline’s game fell away after that, as they took only a single win from the final five rubbers.
There were three five set contests, and Weightmans took them all. So Spanline were not completely out of it, but they could not do what Weightmans could, that was finish the game off. 
In the first of them, Tony Malycha came from two sets to one down against Fitzpatrick, to take the final two sets 2 and 8. Arnold Jago did the same thing against Burns in his 11-8, 5-11, 7-11, 11-6, 13-11 win. And finally, the second doubles Sefer and Malycha regained their momentum to see off the resurgent Wright and Fitzpatrick 11-4, 11-9, 5-11, 5-11, 12-10.
Spanline’s only rubbers came from Geoff Wright taking his three singles matches, and he and Matt Burns the first doubles.
Spanline have now lost four of their last six matches; Weightmans on the other hand, lost rounds two and three, and have won everything else.
Final scores: 7 rubbers to 4 and 22 games to 20.
PENNANT THREE:
Bishop Builders continue their late season push, with their third win in a row, putting them a clear second on the ladder. Teams third, fourth and fifth on the ladder are only separated by percentage, and sixth placed Mallee Bearings is only one game behind.
– Bishop Builders 7 (Peter Kelly, Mick Bacon, Jeff Hards 2) d Fishers IGA 4 (Ajay Chowdrey 2, Jeremy Corrin 1)
Bishop Builders recorded their sixth win for the season with a workmanlike win over Fishers IGA.
With captain Peter Kelly now settled into the side, this team is looking much steadier. Wins by all team members this week indicates a degree of confidence, which was absent during their dry spell.
Kelly, together with Mick Bacon and Jeff Hards all scored two singles wins apiece, with Bacon and Kelly taking the first doubles rubber.
Sadly for Fishers IGA the contest was over after the sixth rubber – the Builders had taken the lot !!
Fishers then set about damage control, and took four of the five last rubbers.
No one player dominated this game; 
Kelly defeated Ajay Chowdhry (subbing for Tom Douglas) in five sets after being two sets to one down. He also won against Michael Hensgen in three sets. Mick Bacon got his two rubbers against Jeremy Corrin (in five, after he too was two sets to one down), and Michael Hensgen in four. And Jeff Hards also bested Hensgen in four sets, and had an easy win against Corrin in three sets 7, 2 and 7.
For Fishers, Chowdhry was the best-performed player, taking two. These were against Bacon and Hards, in five and three sets respectively. Corrin, after losing to the opposition’s number two and three, popped up with a win against Peter Kelly in four sets.
With the doubles rubbers being shared – Bacon and Kelly over Corrin and Hensgen in four, and later Corrin and Chowdhry just seeing off Bacon and Hards in five, the final result was a lot closer than it had appeared at the half-way mark.
Final scores: 7 rubbers to 4 and 26 games to 19.
– Weightmans Packaging 9 (Rod Healy, Jai Green 3, Jol Peters 2) d Mallee Bearings 2 (Peter Mikhaeil 1)
Weightmans Packaging continued their winning ways in this match, with a demolition of Mallee Bearings.
Weightmans captain Rod Healy, and his number two Jai Green were both in fine form, taking three rubbers each. Number three Jol Peters was good for two rubbers.
Once again Healy took his wins in just three sets – only Helen Frania could force one of those sets past the minimum finishing point, 11, to 13-11.
Jai Green in taking his three, took his second perfect haul of the season. The last time he did it was five rounds ago, yes, against this same side. He defeated Frania in three, Sabrina Fitzpatrick in four, and Peter Mikhaeil in a tough five set contest, 15-13, 7-11, 11-5, 11-13, 11-7.
Jol Peters was too good for Sabrina Fitzpatrick, taking that game in four sets, and just outlasted the persistent Helen Frania in the night’s final rubber with a 16-14, 7-11, 11-2, 9-11, 15-13 win.
Wins were very thin on the ground for Mallee Bearings – Peter Mikhaeil defeated Jol Peters in four sets and later he and Frania defeated Healy and Peters in the second doubles, also in four sets – and that was it.
Final scores: 9 rubbers to 2 and 29 games to 13.
– Dunkley Scales 6 (Colin Moore, Karly Leach 2, Sam Hensgen 1) d Pinnacle Packers 5 (Rachel Fitzpatrick, Peter Edwards 2)
A very close game, and one which was decided in the final rubber.
Dunkley Scales were without Leonie Dunkley, and had the very experienced Colin Moore filling in for her.
After losing the first rubber (Sam Hensgen in four sets over Paul Fitzpatrick), Pinnacle Packers raced to a 4 rubbers to 1 lead to give themselves a good chance of a win.
That burst of four rubbers was contributed by
Rachel Fitzpatrick (two singles wins), and Peter Edwards (one singles win), and Rachel and Peter together in the first doubles. Rachel continued her good form in her defeat of Moore in four sets, after she dropped the first. Her second win was similar, in four sets against Sam Hensgen. Peter Edwards, in his usual flamboyant way, had a great five set win over Karly Leach, 13-11, 13-11, 10-12, 8-11, 12-10, just prior to he and Rachel taking the first doubles in four sets against Leach and Hensgen.
Dunkley Scales then hit back with a four rubber winning streak of their own – Karly Leach defeated Paul Fitzpatrick, 11-0, 11-7, 17-15, who improved impressively as the game went along, Moore outplayed Edwards in four sets, Leach and Moore the second doubles over Rachel and Paul Fitzpatrick, and finally Karly again, in the match of the captains, too good for Rachel 11-5, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5.
Peter Edwards made it five all when he defeated Hensgen in a close four set contest 11-9, 12-14, 11-4, 12-10 to set the game up for a big finish.
Once again, playing the last rubber, Paul Fitzpatrick was being asked to win the game for his side, but on this occasion he was unable to deliver against the much more experienced Colin Moore. He came very close, though. Moore took the first two sets, in what was even then a close contest, 11-9, 12-10. Fitzpatrick bounced back with wins in the third and fourth sets 11-8, 11-9 to take the match to the fifth set. Both players had their chances to close the match out, but Moore it was who got the necessary break of two points and take the win at 14-12 in the final set.
Final scores: 6 rubbers to 5 and 24 games to 20.
PENNANT FOUR:
The top two positions have been finalised with three rounds to be played, however as we know finals table tennis can bring different results from time to time. In this round both top teams Fishers IGA and Sunny Daily enjoyed success. Can Fishers maintain this unbeaten run, for each victory are you closer to defeat, time will tell!
– Fishers IGA 8 (Cambell McKenzie 3, Soyel Zahidi 2, Ben Hosking 1) d Weightmans Packaging 3 (Quentin Clark 2, Kim Avers 1)
Top team Fishers IGA made it twelve in succession when they defeated Weightmans Packaging 8-3. Despite going out to a four nil lead early, Fishers did not have it all their own way as three of these came in five sets as Weightmans tried extremely hard to stay in the match.
Fishers skipper Cambell McKenzie again won three singles, he is now undefeated in the past seven rounds and sits six clear in the aggregate race. In his first match he had to playing well against the fast improving 
Quentin Clark who at one stage took a two games to love lead before Cambell fought back to win 5-11 6-11 11-7 11-9 11-6, a great contest. In the first doubles Cambell combined with the ice man Ben Hosking to defeat Kim Avers and Quentin Clark 9-11 13-11 12-10 7-11 11-5 in another excellent tussle. Fishers number three Soyel Zahidi played well to win two singles and partner skipper Cambell to a five set win in the second doubles.
Quentin Clark was Weightmans best player winning two singles and as earlier mentioned he went down in five in his other match. In his last singles of the night against Soyel Quentin recovered from 0-2 to win 9-11 6-11 11-9 11-9 11-8.
In total there were five five set matches with four going the way of Fishers. Maybe they are staring to feel the pressure of maintaining this unbeaten run?
– Sunny Daily 7 (Sue Green, Paul Reyes 2, Shirley Whitecross 1) d Max Miller Carpets 4 (Kumail Jaffry 3, John Fitzpatrick 1)
Sunny Daily consolidated their second position on the ladder and the double chance by proving too steady for Max Miller Carpets and winning 7-4. In an even team performance skipper Paulo Reyes and Sue Green won two singles each while team mate 
Shirley Whitecross won one. For Sue this was a successful night winning two singles for the first time and combining to win the second doubles with Paulo, 11-2 11-3 4-11 8-11 12-10 an important victory. Sue was able to get the Daily off to a great start when she defeated talented junior fill in John Fitzpatrick 11-7 9-11 11-8 7-11 11-8.
For Max Miller Carpets Kumail Jaffry continued his good season by winning three singles.
