Jacob Grieves with a monster serve against Echuca 2. Photos: Jordan Townrow.
It was a tough opening round of Campaspe Tennis Association’s senior competitions, as both Rochester and Lockington-Bamawm United suffered defeats in division one.
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Colbinabbin got on the board in division two over Echuca 3, while Echuca 4 took the chocolates in an intra-club match against Echuca 5.
It was a clean sheet for Echuca 1, which travelled to Lockington-Bamawm United Tennis Club, defeating the host 13-0.
Chris Potter and Echuca 2 got off to the perfect start to the new season, defeating defending champion Rochester.
Echuca 1’s Jack Byrne and Eli Kingma took down LBU’s Harrison Condliffe and Darryl Squires 6-4 and 6-3, respectively, in the two men’s singles matches.
Byrne and Nick Bush combined to win the first men’s doubles over Condliffe and Greg Humbert 8-4, before Kingma and Hugh Melville beat LBU’s Squires and Ian Haines 8-5.
Lachlan Smith puts spin on his serve.
The visitors found more reward in the women’s doubles, as Charlotta Groenewald and Celine Joyce won 8-3 in their match against Katie Condliffe and Lois Toohey.
It was the same story in the mixed doubles as Byrne and Groenewald triumphed over Harrison and Katie Condliffe 8-6 and Kingma and Mia Aston put Toohey and Monica Brereton to the sword 8-1.
Cadence Major lines up a corner shot.
In a 2024-25 grand final rematch, Echuca 2 faced off against Rochester, with the former getting sweet revenge 4-9 after being bested at the big dance in March.
Rochester’s Jacob Grieves got the day started for his side, putting Shaun Trice to bed 6-1, while also starring in the doubles in Rochy’s win over Trice and Chris Milnes 8-4.
Sue McPherson hits a forehand down the line.
Echuca 2 got on the board through the men’s doubles combination of Phil Higgins and Chris Potter, triumphing 8-1, before its women’s contingent won all four of their doubles.
With scores tight at 5-4 in favour of Echuca 2, it all came down to the mixed doubles — and that is where Echuca 2 excelled.
Phil and Lucy Higgins got hold of Grieves and Rachael Major 8-3 and a couple of other wins before Tanya Godfrey and Logan Milnes hammered the nail in the coffin against Lachlan Smith and Sue McPherson 8-7.
Rachel Major gets her body behind the ball.
Division two
The Tiger Bloods had the bye, which meant it was Echuca 3 and Colbinabbin going head-to-head, while it was an intra-club battle between Echuca 4 and Echuca 5.
Playing at Echuca Tennis Club, it was back and forth between Echuca 3 and Colbo all the way through, but it was the visitor who walked away victorious 8-5.
Trina Godfrey juggles the ball before serving.
Meanwhile, it was a similar story at the same location as Echuca 4 triumphed over Echuca 5 after the host got off to a 5-0 start.
While it was an admirable effort for Echuca 4 to claw back, it wasn’t enough to overcome the starting chasm.
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