HAVEN Tennis Club has come away with a remarkable six junior grand final titles including a clean sweep of the junior boys grades in the Central Wimmera Tennis Association on Saturday.
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Haven Black came away with the section one open crown, defeating Green 4-31 to 2-21.
Josh Freeman, Kyah Wilkinson and Conor Chivell were simply too strong for Michael Lloyd, Josh Dunn and Hamish Bell.
Freeman and Chivell both won singles sets for Black, with Dunn claiming a singles set win for Green.
One grade Haven did not win was in section one girls, where just one game split Horsham Lawn and Natimuk Blue, as Lawn came away with the win.
In a cracking contest between the league’s top two sides, Lawn edged Natimuk 3-28 to 3-27.
Natimuk won two doubles sets and looked to be in a good position heading into the singles sets.
However, Tahlia Thompson and Briodi Cook won their sets for Horsham Lawn to even the encounter at three sets apiece.
The result came down to games with Lawn taking the slightest of victories in a fitting grand final.
Out of the nine competitions, Haven won two-thirds of them.
Haven Tennis Club junior co-ordinator Sue Exell said Saturday was a great day for the club.
“It was a fantastic effort. We have never had anything like this before. Normally when it gets to finals you might be lucky to get one or two wins,” she said.
“The Black and Green teams in section one open have had tough matches all year. It could have gone either way with those groups.
“They are two interesting teams because we have had girls playing in those open sides and they have done really well. We have had Lauren Bond in the Black and Hettie French in the Green so it has been good for them to be competing at a higher level as well.”
Ms Exell said it was phenomenal for the club to win so many grand finals.
“We have worked hard over the years with our junior program to try and bring the children through,” she said.
“We have created a stepping stone with the Hot Shots and we just put a lot of time and effort into our juniors and I think it’s starting to pay off.
“In previous years it has always been Central Park and Horsham Lawn dominating. It’s not like we have been so successful all the time, so this is a very special thing for the club to do so well this year.”
Most of the junior finals took place at Haven and Ms Exell said it made for great viewing.
“The Haven set-up is really good for viewing and we get a lot of people commenting on that because you can go all around the courts and up the middle and it’s exciting to see it all in action,” she said.
“The Central Wimmera Tennis Association ran everything really well this year and we have to thank the umpires too, because it is a hard job to do.”
