Cobram has been announced as the hosts of the Goulburn Murray Tennis Association grand finals as the home-and-away season came to a close last weekend.
Cobram Lawn Tennis Club will host the grand final on Saturday, March 18, with this weekend’s semi and preliminary finals to be shared between Nathalia, Numurkah, Tatura, Tongala, Stanhope and Kyabram.
“It is exciting for Cobram. We are pretty excited to head up there on grand final day,” GMLTA president Mark Mills said.
“Their venues are very good, so we are looking forward to that.”
The finals are normally played in Shepparton, but will instead be shifted up north to allow Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club a chance to rest its courts.
“They have had a pretty rough year with the floods starting off and then the workload on their courts. Their courts just needed a rest,” Mills said.
The Cobram Crocs will be hoping to get the chance to play in a grand final on home soil when their finals campaign kicks off this weekend.
The Crocs, who finished second on the division two ladder, will take on league-leaders Stanhope in the semi-final at 1.15pm on Saturday, March 4.
Both sides ended the regular season on a high, picking up wins in round 15.
Cobram defeated Shepparton Lawn Blue 7-60 to 4-49, with James Murray and Daryl Bennett both going undefeated on the day.
Correne Cooper and Danny Blackburn had good days out on the court as well, each winning two of their three rubbers for the Crocs.
Stanhope prevailed over Kialla Park Old Students 8-66 to 3-50.
The winner of the Stanhope-Cobram clash will advance straight through to the grand final, on Saturday, March 18, while the loser will have a second chance at reaching the finale.
The loser will play in the preliminary final on Sunday, March 5, against the winner of Numurkah and Kyabram.
In division three, the Cobram Cobras got their first win of the season on the board, although not quite in the fashion they might have wanted.
The Cobras’ opponents Kyabram forfeited, giving Cobram a default 13-100 to 0-0 win.
There is plenty more tennis action set to take place at Cobram as well, with the club set to host both its Labour Day tournament and club championships final.
Jodie Wastell will take on Cooper in the women’s final, while Bennett will face off against Leigh Adkins in the men’s decider.
Both finals will be played on Thursday, March 2, with play set to start at 6pm.
Cobram’s Labour Day event will run from Saturday, March 11 to Monday, March 13. Entries close on Sunday, March 5.