With five rounds gone, the top sides in Echuca Table Tennis Association’s second competition of 2024 have begun to separate themselves from the pack.
Round five fixtures, held on Wednesday, August 21 at the Moama Sporting Complex saw two sides at the top end of the ladder.
Starting the round atop the table, Racket Scientists jumped on the opportunity to improve their game difference against winless CBD.
A hard-fought win from the Scientists’ number two player, Daniel Barry, over CBD number one Daniel Mackrell set the tone for the match, as the contested fixtures consistently went the Scientists’ way.
After dropping both doubles match-ups, CBD made a short-lived fightback through Brady Cronin, who took his final singles game, but Racket Scientists closed out the match with a win to Stephen Hope, giving the match to Racket Scientists 8-3, extending their game difference lead at the top of the ladder.
Another side looking to make an impact was Rebels, who encountered a short-handed Loopers side.
With only one of their regular players present, Loopers made do with several fill-ins and encountered strong resistance from Rebels.
The teams split the doubles but a couple of key singles wins from Nathan Mackrell and Peter Retallick put the game beyond doubt, Rebels winning 7-4 and maintaining their place near the top of the table with a 4-1 record.
Snap Crackle and Pop was looking to notch a positive record in a match-up with Tall Timber.
Timber had only dropped one of its first four, but SCP had them in trouble after taking both doubles by a combined six games to one.
The result was secured by Harvey Griffiths, who picked up a win in the final round of singles, before Phil Higgins pulled one back in the penultimate match.
Jen Fang improved SCP’s margin in the final singles of the tie, resulting in a 7-4 win for her side.
No.1 Draft Pick was in search of its first win of the year against Andromeda and looked to be in a good position after taking both doubles matches.
With the score four-all with three singles matches to play, it was Andromeda who stepped up to the occasion, grabbing two straight to put the game beyond doubt, before Draft Pick clawed one back in the final game to go down in a heartbreaker, 6-5.
Finally, in round five, Dragons and Smash Bros faced off, with Dragons looking to keep pace with the leaders and Smash Bros hoping to claw their way out of the mid-table.
The first doubles was a see-sawing affair, eventually swinging the way of Dragons in the deciding game: 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10, 11-3.
Smash Bros rebounded with a clean, three-game sweep of the second doubles to leave things evenly poised heading into the deciding block of singles.
All three remaining ties went to four games, but in the end it was Smash Bros that got the better of the series, 2-1, resulting in a final score of 6-5 in their favour.
Wednesday’s match-ups see Dragons face off with CBD, Tall Timber battle Racket Scientists and No.1 Draft Pick takes on Snap Crackle and Pop.
Rebels are up against Andromeda, while Smash Bros will take on Loopers.
Ladder
1. Racket Scientists: 4-1 (+13)
2. Rebels: 4-1 (+7)
=3. Dragons: 3-2 (+5)
=3. Andromeda: 3-2 (+5)
=5. Smash Bros: 3-2 (+1)
=5. Snap Crackle and Pop: 3-2 (+1)
=5. Tall Timber: 3-2 (+1)
8. Loopers: 2-3 (-5)
9. No.1 Draft Pick: 0-5 (-13)
10. CBD: 0-5 (-15)