The two top sides in the Campaspe Tennis Association all season have been Echuca 1 and Rochester and the semi-final round was no different, with both sides moving on to the grand final.
It was business as usual for Echuca 1, which won all 16 of its regular season matches, as it defeated Echuca 2 8-83 to 5-64 at Echuca Lawn Tennis Club.
Echuca 2 earned a slight lead in the singles matches, with Ryan More’s 6-3 win narrowly bigger than the 6-4 result achieved by Echuca 1’s Todd Charnas.
Echuca 1 established dominance from there, winning all three men’s doubles rubbers to race into the lead, with Stephen Hope and Shane Coatsworth’s 8-3 set the biggest win.
The domination continued to start the women’s doubles with Roxanne Dickets and Celine Joyce scoring a comprehensive 8-1 win for Echuca 1.
When Echuca 2 did pick up wins they were in much closer affairs, such as the 8-7 victory by Jessica Cox and Judy Poole.
The mixed doubles started similarly to the women’s, with Echuca 1’s Charnas and Dickets defeating their opponents 8-0, while Hope and Vicki Bavich finished the tie in style, winning 8-2 as Echuca 1 romped into the finals.
The match between Rochester and Rich River was a more tightly contested affair, with Rochy eventually taking the contest 7-80 to 6-75.
The two sides played last week, with Rochester getting the win in a close contest, and the semi-final tie followed a similar path.
The singles started off promisingly for Rochester as Jaycob Dingwall (7-5) and Jacob Grieves (6-4) both scored wins.
Rochester stayed on top in the men’s doubles, claiming two of the three rubbers, Lachlan Smith teaming with both Tobie Woodfine and Nash Hocking for 8-6 victories.
Rich River staged a fightback in the women’s doubles, taking three sets out of four including the pair of Alyssa Moss and Debbie Angove clawing back points with an 8-0 victory.
The mixed doubles were split two apiece but Rochester scored 8-2 margins in both its wins, allowing it to close out the match on top.
A tall task lies ahead for Rochester as they take on the undefeated Echuca 1 in the grand final.
Rochy has been the closest contender all season and will draw some heart from the teams’ round three fixture where Echuca 1 escaped with the overall win, 6-84 to 7-78, despite Rochy taking seven rubbers to six.
In round eight, Echuca won more routinely 7-83 to 6-73, while the final meeting between the sides was in round 13 where Echuca scored a dominant victory, 10-88 to 3-70.
Division two
Ladder leader Rochester 2 progressed to the grand final with a 7-64 to 6-53 win over Lockington-Bamawm United 2.
After a split result in the singles, LBU reeled off three doubles wins in a row to put itself in the driver's seat, before Rochester took six of the last eight, including a 6-0 triumph from the pair of Mandy Dingwall and Christine Hooppell, to take control of the tie.
Echuca 4 defeated Echuca 6 in a nail-biting match 7-65 to 6-64 to advance to face Rochester by the narrowest of margins.
Echuca 6 entered the final rubber down by two games, but the pair of Peter Gronow and Tamkia Nunn could only manage a 7-6 victory, with Echuca 4’s Riley Godfrey and Maisy Byrne doing enough for their side to claim the tie.