Now just two sides remain after the semi-finals of the second Echuca Table Tennis Association competition for 2025 were held at the Moama Sporting Complex on Wednesday night.
Team 7 and The Defenders, the top two in the regular season, both did enough to qualify for the decider.
Minor premier Team 7 did it easy against Leftovers, winning all the critical fixtures to end the night early 7-2.
With Leftovers already trailing after the opening doubles, Team 7’s second-ranked player Peter Retallick dealt a death blow to the underdogs' chances, getting by number one Hank Doller in four games, 11-7, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, to put his side on the brink of victory.
A hard-fought 3-2 doubles win and one of the final three singles was more than enough to seal the match, the teams calling it a night with two dead rubbers still to play.
It was a different story across the hall in the second verses third semi-final.
The Defenders hadn’t lost since the opening round, when they were defeated by their semi-final opponents, Smashing Dragons.
To complicate proceedings, The Defenders were without their regular number three, and drafted in Harvey Griffiths from the other semi to pull double duty and make up their numbers.
Team 7 had also been missing a number three, and so Smashing Dragons’ Jesse Edwards also had extra games to play.
The Defenders took the first doubles of the night 3-0 to get an early leg up and would have been in a dominant position should they have converted on the second.
From 2-0 down, the Smashing Dragons’ pairing of Raymond Kissell and Brendan Shingles fought back to win 6-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-9 and level the scores heading into the final three singles.
The Defenders took the first, to be one away from victory, but Shingles, who was a point away from a 2-0 hole against Rob Russell, rallied to win the game and went on to take the match 3-1, levelling the scores again.
It left fill-in Griffiths to take on Edwards in the deciding match, both men’s seventh of the night.
There was very little between the pair, the first three games ending 11-8, with two going Griffiths’ way.
Then, in a fourth-set tiebreaker, fortune would swing in his favour, as he sealed the match with a net court 12-10, giving The Defenders the overall win 6-5.
The Defenders won’t have Griffiths to bail them out in the decider this Wednesday, but will draw confidence from their 6-5 win over Team 7 in the regular season.
The grand final will be held from 7pm at the Moama Sporting Complex.
Spectators are welcome, and extra tables will be available for those looking to have a hit.
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