LIAM PHILLIPS
NURIOOTPA continued to flex its muscles by winning all 16 sets in the Barossa Light & Gawler division one tennis match against South Lyndoch.
It was a dominant performance from both the ladies’ and men’s divisions, with South Lyndoch only able to reach four games in three of the 16 matchups, as Vanesa Lambert and Kimberly Seelander highlighted the day’s play taking their singles matches 6-0.
South Lyndoch’s Robert Jansen put up the best fight on the men’s side, eventually succumbing to Dylan Sharman 4-6 in the most competitive affair on the day.
The win leaves Nuriootpa as the only unbeaten side after three rounds of the season.
Elsewhere, Xavier Saints bounced back from a tough loss to Nuriootpa, going to Kapunda and leaving with an 11 sets to five win.
The Saints ladies led the team, winning six of eight sets.
Indi-arna Morris and Melanie Leeflang both went unbeaten on the day, while the Kapunda men had some strong performances of their own despite their men’s side going down 3-5.
Mick Matters was the standout for the home side, winning his singles (6- 1) and doubles (9-5) before losing his reverse doubles 4-6.
Roger Buckby went undefeated for the Saints’ men, highlighted by his 6-1 singles win over Joshua Matthews.
In division two, Xavier Saints remains unbeaten after an 11 sets to five win over Tod St.
The Saints’ ladies continued to fire, winning all six of their contested sets, while the men’s matches were split 5-3 in Xavier’s favour, and the mixed doubles finished 2-2.
Robert Polito went undefeated on the men’s side for the Saints, while Jack Gibbins was able to win two sets for Tod St.
In the most closely contested matchup of the weekend, the Willaston ladies almost singlehandedly pulled their team over the line at home against Lyndoch, eventually taking a nine sets to seven win.
The Willaston men went down 4-2 thanks to strong play from Andrew Lane as he went undefeated for the visitors, with singles wins for Brett Fitzpatrick and Paul Butterworth keeping the home team alive.
The Willaston women, on the other hand, swept the board taking all six of their head-to-heads, but it was far from smooth sailing as Angela Edwards and Tanya Pettrey fought to 6-4 and 7-5 wins respectively.
The result means that other than Xavier, all other division two teams now sit at 1-2 on the season, leaving the race for second wide open.