With the game shifted from Cobram Lawn Tennis Club to Kyabram due to the heat, the home-ground advantage failed to do any favours for the Combine as Numurkah ran away 7-76 to 5-68 winners.
Ryan Pool won 8-5 in the first set to get Ky-Echuca off to a flyer, but Nic Fenaughty wasted no time settling in with an 8-2 win over David Starling to open the Warriors’ account.
Jack Bassett had a big 8-1 win to extend Numurkah’s early lead, one the Warriors’ John Brunner extended in the final men’s singles rubber.
Brooke Starling wrenched Ky-Echuca back into the contest with an 8-1 win over Sabrina Lewicky in the ladies’ singles tie, drawing the Combine back within five games.
Maggie Snowdon’s 8-5 reply extended Numurkah’s advantage to eight games midway through the clash, while Numurkah’s Grant Chappell and Aaron Breust were the first doubles winners of the day.
Starling and Pool combined for an 8-5 doubles win to keep the hosts in the hunt, and the combination of Brooke Starling and Genevieve Bush, 8-4 winners, drew Kyabram-Echuca back within two games with three rubbers to play.
However, the comeback was short-lived, as Chappell and Bassett enjoyed a decisive 8-2 doubles win to lead 63-55.
Breust and Snowdon sealed the game with an 8-5 win in the mixed doubles, taking an unassailable lead heading into the final rubber.
Kyabram-Echuca’s David Starling said things just did not click on the day.
“We started off quite well and things were looking okay, it’s probably that middle section that hurt us,” Starling said.
“We didn’t win a couple of sets that we needed to and that hurt us.
“They got momentum and then we struggled to come back.
“We really only had a couple of players that stood out and played well while a few of us were down on the day.
“That’s the way that it goes — it all comes down to one day.”
Ryan Pool, Brooke Starling and Genevieve Bush were standouts in defeat, according to Starling.
The section one victory is Numurkah’s second in a row, securing the honours from Velvet Tigers in last year’s grand final.
GM1 grand final
Numurkah Warriors 7-76 d Kyabram-Echuca 5-68
A. Breust lt R. Pool 5-8, N. Fenaughty d D. Starling 8-2, J. Bassett d D. Tomkins 8-1, J. Brunner d J. Godfrey 8-6, S. Lewicki lt B. Starling 1-8, M. Snowdon d P. Bush 8-5, G. Chappell-A. Breust d D. Tomkins-J. Godfrey 8-7, J. Bassett-N. Fenaughty lt D. Starling-R. Pool 5-8, L. Bassett-M. Snowdon lt B. Starling-G. Bush 4-8, G. Chappell-J. Bassett d D. Starling-D. Tomkins 8-2, A. Breust-M. Snowdon d R. Pool-B. Starling 8-5, N. Fenaughty-S. Lewicki lt J. Godfrey-G. Bush 5-8.