Week 5 of The Mount Gambier Table Tennis Winter 2021 Season again dished up some thrilling results as well as some one-sided affairs, including an astonishingly powerful whitewash performance by the Spinning Sonics over the hapless Cyborgs in the C-grade.
First to the A-Grade, where Siri’s Team locked horns with Rowan And The Boys. Travis Sweet got the Boys off to the perfect start, cruising to an easy win over Katrina McPhee before Sanith Ghetia hit back for Siri’s team, accounting for Rowan Hardcastle in their singles encounter and then teaming up with McPhee for victory over Hardcastle and Sweet in the doubles. When Sweet defeated Ghetia in their reverse singles rubber, the overall result of the match hinged on the all-important final encounter of the night between McPhee and Hardcastle. As if by script, the two combatants put all their skill and grit on display to produce a pearler of a contest befitting the occasion. Both players matched each other point for point throughout, neither able to break the contest open, and sure enough they could not be separated until the final points of the deciding fifth game. Just when Hardcastle thought he had it won, McPhee drew on her all her experience to produce a match-saving point and then go on to win the rubber and the match for her team, 3 rubbers to 2.In a truly superhuman effort, Travis Sweet also featured in the second of the A-Grade matches, this time going into battle for Bill-John’s Team against Sarah’s Team. Sweet and Kevin Patzel performed well for their team, but ultimately Leigh Barry’s efforts proved the difference for Sarah’s Team, edging out their opponents for the 6-5 victory. Highlights included Patzel’s thrilling (and surely exhausting) five-game victories over both Sarah Thompson and David Fox, and Sweet’s clean sheet. The third and final match in the A-Grade saw the Warriors do battle with the Charming Archies, Ben Newman leading the way with a clean sheet for the Archies, while Ian Conlin and Robin Pellen also performed strongly for the Warriors. Newman and Pellen, two stalwarts of the game, fought out a tense five-game thriller that went down to the wire. Pellen appeared to have Newman’s measure when he claimed the first two games, then a complete transformation seemed wash over the table, Newman assuming control in the third game and cruising to a comfortable victory. The teams remained even for the rest of the evening, Newman’s victory over Conlin in the final rubber giving the Archies the 6-5 win.
Rayelene Hutchesson and Luke Bremner fought bravely for the undermanned RLM team, who were ultimately unable to halt the Caitlin Fartch led Raiders juggernaut in their B-grade match. Fartch was more than ably assisted by Rob Halleday and Kylie Boston, the latter toiling away in two 5-game thrillers, besting Hutchesson before running out of puff against Bremner. Ultimately the Raiders cruised to a 9-2 win. In the other B-grade match, Cameron Beal won both of his singles rubbers and teamed up with Rhys Edwards in the doubles to guide Revengers past Young Guns by the narrowest of margins, 3 rubbers to 2. Hayden Luo and Kuncheria produced an even team effort for Young Guns, the end result ultimately decided by the doubles.
Nick Sweet, Tom Horrigan and Maree Peake had the Spinning Sonics in complete control from the outset in their C-Grade encounter with Cyborgs, whose only positive was Emina Leamey and Sergio Cesario pushing their opponents out to four games in a couple of their rubbers, merely prolonging the torture as the Sonics posted a complete 11-0 domination. Richard Horrigan teamed up with Chris Mulraney to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 victory over Rollers’ Marga Steele and Deakin Lofthouse in the
second of the C-Grade matches, while James Peake and Andrew Schubert both came away undefeated for Two And A Half Men to give them a 6-5 victory over Paladin.
3-rubber winners:
- A-Grade: Travis Sweet (Rowan And The Boys, Bill-John’s Team), Ben Newman (Warriors).
- B-Grade: Cameron Beal (Revengers), Caitlin Fartch (Raiders).
- C-Grade: Tom Horrigan, Nick Sweet, Maree Peake (Spinning Sonics), James Peake, Andrew Schubert (2 And A Half Men), Richard Horrigan (Hurricanes).