Oh what a feeling… triple tennis triumph

by Susan Foreman
9th October 2019

JDC1 Saturday 7/9/19

HAVING EMPHATICALLY won their home semi-final against Ferntree Gully two sets to love (with the third drawn) the weekend before, it was time for Warrandyte’s Sunday JDC1 team to travel to HE Parker Reserve in Heathmont for the Grand Final.
HE Parker Reserve’s Blue team had led the section all season and had accounted for Warrandyte in both of the home and away encounters but as this match was to play out, finals momentum is far more important than history.
The first set was drawn, but when Warrandyte took the ascendancy in the second set there was no stopping them, running out winners with  the final two sets 5-3 6-2.
Well done Warrandyte!

JOSD2 Tuesday 10/9/19

Rain interrupted the Grand Final of the JOSD2 Winter competition between Warrandyte and Emerald.
The teams agreed to hold the rescheduled match on the following Tuesday evening.
Warrandyte made the trek up the mountain for a second time to visit Emerald to complete the match tentatively kicked off in the drizzle of Saturday morning.
The home team finished top of the ladder, having not faced Warrandyte all season, as Warrandyte were promoted to the higher grade after three unequivocal walkovers at the start of the season in JOSD3.
The match was Warrandyte’s from the off, as the first set of doubles between the 1 and 2 players went Warrandyte’s way 6-0.
The second set, between Number 3 and 4 players, saw Emerald take a point with a close fought 6-4 to the home team.
The singles all went Warrandyte’s way.
The team’s number one player, Matthew Quick, having not dropped a singles’ set all season, continued his domination of the court, while Kylani Czarnecki, Sophie Gurney and Erika Hamilton all bested their opponents.
To Emerald’s credit, the game scores belied some very tight matches, with several games sitting on Deuce/ Advantage for up to 10 rallies.
The final doubles pairings saw the team’s fifth player, Owen Kelly, swapped into the Number 4 position. The concluding doubles matches, with changed up pairs, saw Matthew and Kylani make short work of Emerald’s Number 1 and 3 players, while Erica and Owen dropped their set.
But it was academic by that stage with Warrandyte taking the flag 6 sets to 2, with an emphatic game score of 40-28.

JDC3 Saturday 14/9/19

Despite being top of the Junior Development Competition section 3 throughout the season, Warrandyte were pushed all the way by second placed Wantirna Blue in their rain delayed home final and it ultimately came down to a 5 game set tie breaker to take the flag.
Winning the first set 5-3 the second set was drawn (4-4) and despite some nervous moments, Warrandyte managed to win the 3 games necessary in the third set (3-5) to force the match to a tie breaker.
The atmosphere on the clubhouse balcony was so tense that some parents simply could not watch!
On winning the tie breaker 4 games to 1, Junior Convenor Tony Honeyborne had nothing but praise for both teams.
“The spirit with which the whole match was played was a credit to these young players at the start of their tennis careers and every year the standard just seems to get higher with protracted rallies and some well executed placement.
“It was tough handing the runners up medals to the Wantirna players things were so even, and the match, as you often see in tennis at the highest level, ultimately came down to a couple of points at crucial moments.