HAVEN will be looking to cause an upset this weekend as it comes up against the undefeated St Michael’s.
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The two teams sit atop the Central Wimmera Tennis Association table, with St Michael’s dominant throughout the opening five matches of the season.
Haven has also enjoyed a solid start to the season, with its only loss coming against St Michael’s in round two.
Sophie De Wit, captain of the Haven pennant team, said her squad was looking forward to challenging themselves against the best team in the competition.
“It will be good to test ourselves against the strongest team, so we can see how much we have improved since last time,” she said.
De Wit said Haven would not shy away from the contest and the team would be focused on causing an upset victory.
“We really enjoy playing against St Michael’s. It's always a really good day. They're an all-round good side,” she said.
De Wit said her team had no injury concerns and were happy to head into the clash with the underdog label.
“There's no pressure on us so we can just go out there and have a good hit and see what happens,” she said.
“Everyone is looking fit. I think we are going into the match with our strongest team.”
St Michael’s player Ian Nitschke said he was also looking forward to the match, with Saturday expected to hit 32 degrees.
“It’s going to be warmer. It will be a good day for it,” he said.
Nitschke expects the team’s women’s side would put them in a good position, with the women’s team yet to lose a set since round one.
“We have a fairly strong ladies side,” he said. “It will be a challenge. [Last time we played Haven] the men's sets were reasonably close. We don't expect the ladies to lose too many, so it comes down to what the men can do.”
De Wit also praised the Saints’ women’s team, highlighting the strong hitting ability of Steffi and Jess McDonald.
“The McDonald girls are always hard to beat,” she said.
De Wit said her squad was still optimistic about facing a strong team, and would focus on being as consistent as possible.
“We need to improve our consistency and then we will be pretty good. We will be pretty hard to beat,” she said.
Horsham Lawn are also playing at home on Saturday, and will host Kalkee.
Lawn will be hoping to improve on their round two match against Kalkee, in which they lost 13 sets to one.
In the other match expected to take place on Saturday, Drung South will travel to play bottom-placed Natimuk.
Drung South will be confident of a victory and sit third on the table, starting the season with three wins and two losses.