IT WAS a nail-biting finish to the Central Wimmera Tennis Association pennant competition grand final on Saturday, with the premiership coming down to the wire.
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In one of St Michael’s closest matches for the year, the minor premier ran out eventual winners over Drung South.
The final score was St Michael’s seven sets and 95 games to Drung South seven sets and 87 games.
It was St Michael’s third premiership win in a row.
The day was full of close matches and upsets, with St Michael’s Peter Hayes and Bill Robertson winning an early men’s doubles match in a tie-break over Drung South’s Dylan Emmerson and Ben Brooksby.
Drung South was able to steal an unlikely women’s doubles win later in the day, with Kate-Lyn Perkin and Georgia McLennan beating Steffi McDonald and Kassie Peachey nine games to seven.
It all came down to the final rubber of the day, with Drung South up by three games going into the last set.
However, St Michael’s Jess McDonald and Ange Nitschke were too strong, beating Romi Miller and Alex Barnes nine games to love.
St Michael’s captain Chris Ellis said it was a great game and to come down to the wire was nerve wracking.
“We were hoping to win a men’s set and we won one, which turned out to be fairly important for us especially because we dropped a women’s set,” he said.
“The ladies did a great job though and really carried us through the year – hats off to them.”
Ellis said to win three premierships in a row was a great feeling.
“We’ve had the same team together for a while now and it’s great to finish the season off with another win.”
Drung South captain Ben Brooksby described the day as intense.
“It was a lot closer than we expected – we knew we would put up a good fight,” he said.
“We didn’t expect to win a women’s set though, that was pretty good.”
Brooksby said St Michael’s had been a strong side all year.
“They deserve the win, but it was good to challenge them in the end,” he said
“Overall it was a great day – we’ll get them next year.”
Brooksby said it was almost heartbreaking to get so close to winning.
“I kept thinking about my set with Dylan Emerson and how we were five-love up in the tie-break but lost,” he said.
“But that’s tennis, that’s finals, and we fought hard.”
Association president Kate-Lyn Perkin said to see matches come down to the wire was what finals were all about.
“It shows we had the two best teams in the grand final,” she said.
All grand final matches were played at Haven Tennis Club on Saturday.
Perkin said it was a great venue for the day.
“It worked really well – it is such a great set up at Haven and people could walk around and see all the games,” she said.
“The crowd was really getting behind the teams.”