The Mount Gambier Table Tennis Autumn 2021 Season continued this week, with round 2 of competition serving up some classic traditional rivalries and close matchups.
A-Grade’s first match-up saw a dominant Assassins outfit record an easy won over Sweet Sour Pork. Assassins player Leigh Barry produced an impressive individual performance, winning all three of his singles rubbers to lead his team to victory, Kevin Patzel also remaining undefeated. There were few positives for the Sweet Sour Pork team, Ward Freeman’s titanic 5-game triumph over Nick Aston taking them to an early 2-1 lead before they were ultimately overpowered, Assassins winning the next 6 rubbers to run away with an 8-3 result. In the second of the A-Grade matches, Anything IDK were pushed early by a plucky Tigers team before they were finally able to break the shackles late, thanks to strong performances from Chandler Jantosh and Bill-John Watson. Jantosh, Watson and Sanith Ghetia recorded vital singles victories at the tail end of the night to clinch the 7-4 victory for their team. For the Tigers, Greg Megaw performed gallantly to record a clean sheet in his singles rubbers.
In B1, Colossal Gnomes were led superbly by David Fox to a comfortable accounted for Top Deck, 8 rubbers to 3. Top Deck’s Justin Hutchesson opened up proceedings for with a spectacular 5-game marathon against his Colossal Gnomes opponent Cameron Beal, before Fox squared the ledger, easily accounting for Kuncheria Luka. Hayden Luo then put Top Deck’s noses in front again with another classic 5-game victory over Rowan Hardcastle, but that was the last of the highlights for Top Deck as Colossal Gnomes seized control of the match and raced to victory. It was a McPhee family affair in the second of the B1 matches, Warriors player Aaron McPhee came up against his parents Katrina and Brian playing for McPheest, Aaron claiming a tight 4-game victory against his dad before being given a harsh reality check by mum. It was Aaron who had the last laugh though, his Warriors team cruising to an easy 8-3 win off the back of a clinical performance by Graham Jantosh.
B2’s first match saw Corey Jeffery and Andrew Telford dominated their matchups to guide their ACL team to an easy 8-3 win over The Celtics, whilst in the other match Young & Old appeared to have the Rockets’ measure when they led 5 rubbers to 2 before Rockets players James Peake, Marga Steele and Felix Owusu producing a famous comeback, reeling off the final 4 rubbers of the night to snatch an unlikely 6-5 result. Owusu produced a sterling individual performance to come away with a clean sheet.
The C-Grade kicked off with the now famous “Showdown” between Tom Horrigan playing for The Odd Bunch and Angus Billing playing for Butterfly’s. In an eerie repeat of the last encounter between the two friendly rivals, Billing powered to a 2-game lead before Horrigan lifted and broke his opponent’s spirit, grinding out a memorable 5-game victory that will again be instilled in folklore. There were few other highlights in the contest, The Odd Bunch cruising to victory in the first 6 rubbers before Butterfly’s player Nudeen Cook finally gave her team a consolation win. The Butterfly’s added some respectability to the scoreboard late, the end result 7-4 in favour of the Odd Bunch. In the final C-Grade match of the round, 3 Of A Kind were led by Campbell Fox to a comfortable 7-4 victory over a gallant Outcasts team. The match hung in the balance for most of the night until Fox and Emina Leamey recorded victories in their third singles rubbers respectively to seal the win for 3 Of A Kind.
3-rubber winners:
- A-Grade: Leigh Barry, Kevin Patzel (Assassins), Greg Megaw (Tigers)
- B1-Grade: David Fox (Colossal Gnomes), Graham Jantosh (Warriors)
- B2-Grade: Corey Jeffrey, Andrew Telford (ACL), Felix Owusu (Rockets)
- C-Grade: Campbell Fox (3 Of A Kind)
