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A THRILLING round of preliminary finals at the weekend has set up Saturday's Central Wimmera Tennis Association junior grand finals.
The highlight of the round was the nail-biting encounter between Quantong and Horsham Lawn Green in 14 and under A Grade boys competition.
After topping the ladder all season, Quantong found itself on the brink of elimination from the finals and responded well.
The Bombers split the opening round of doubles rubbers and then claimed three of the four singles rubbers for a four-sets-to-two advantage with only two sets remaining.
Josh Freeman, Nicholas Caris and Jaxon Jakobi all posted big singles wins to stretch Quantong's advantage in sets and games. But Horsham Lawn Green was far from done with.
Nick Brown beat Tyson Marshall 6-0 in the final singles rubber to give Lawn Green hope, and when Hayden Farlow and Toby Riddell-Both won their doubles rubber 6-1 the team was back in the hunt.
A final-set arm wrestle between Lawn Green's Mitchell Crough and Nick Brown and Quantong's Caris and Marshall went down to the wire.
Crough and Brown pulled it out in a 6-5 tie-breaker, leaving the scores locked at 4-32 apiece.
Quantong won 6-3 in a tie-breaking set to advance to the grand final and will face Laharum on Saturday.
The 17 and under A Grade girls division produced another preliminary final that went down to the wire.
Entering the final rubber of the day, Central Park Purple trailed Central Park Orange in sets, but led the games score 28-26.
Again, the match went down to a tie-breaker, with Purple's Jess McDonald and Maddison Watts beating Ashley Davis and Denby Lingham to see their team advance 4-34 to 4-31.
Purple will face Horsham Lawn on Saturday in the grand final. There were no surprises in the 17 and under A Grade boys division as Lahrum beat Horsham Lawn Yellow 6-40 to 2-17, setting up a rematch against Horsham Lawn Black.
In 14 and under A Grade girls competition, Quantong smashed Horsham Lawn Purple 8-48 to 0-8. The Bombers were beaten by Haven Red in the semi-finals, but will get a chance to atone for the loss in the grand final.
There was also a thriller in the 12 and under A Grade boys division, with Central Park beating Haven Red 3-31 to 3-29 to advance.
In 17 and under B Grade boys, Central Park was too strong for Haven Red, while Quantong beat Haven in girls competition.
Haven overpowered Natimuk in 14 and under B Grade boys competition, and Laharum did the same to Haven Purple in the girls section.
Central Park was a narrow winner over Haven Green in the 12 and under B Grade boys division.
In 12 and under C Grade competition, the Laharum boys side won, while Haven Green was victorious in the girls competition