GMLTA | Velvet Tigers take ladder leaders to the wire, Warriors,Tropics produce big wins

By Daniel Webb

Dec 12, 2022

Strong showing: Numurkah Warriors’ John Brunner helped his side to the win on Saturday. Photo by Megan Fisher

The Goulburn Murray Lawn Tennis Association division one ladder has well and truly taken shape, with another big weekend of action showcasing the early premiership contenders.

At Echuca, the combined Kyabram-Echuca team did just enough to hold on to top position, downing the Velvet Tigers in a thrilling round eight encounter on Saturday.

Taking out the game 6-81 to 6-73, the home side took home the victory due to winning the most rubbers, with the performances of Jordan Godfrey, Phillipa Bush and Genevieve Bush setting up the win.

Despite the result, Tigers coach Jarrord Bingham said his side took away plenty from the result.

“They pipped us unfortunately,” Bingham said.

“The sets that they won were a little bit more convincing than ours.

“It would’ve been a good win to snatch against them.”

While Kyabram-Echuca sits on top of the ladder, the defeat drops the Tigers to fourth spot with one game remaining before the Christmas break.

Bingham said with two teams clearly on top of the competition this year — Kyabram-Echuca and Numurkah — the race was on for the other two finals positions.

“It’s going to come down to how well you can do against these teams when you play them, so that’s definitely an important result for us in terms of trying to make finals,” he said.

“We’re building into the season pretty well, we’re all starting to get a little bit more confidence as we get to play more matches.”

Elsewhere in round eight action, Numurkah Warriors picked up an away win over Shepparton Lawn Average Joes 4-53 to 8-81, while Shepparton Lawn Tropics stunned Shepparton Lawn The Valley 9-85 to 3-67.

Led by strong showings from John Brunner and Lucy Bassett, the result keeps the Warriors hot on the heels of the ladder leader.

Meanwhile in the GM2 competition, Stanhope downed Cobram Crocs, Kialla Park Old Students picked up a win over Shepparton Lawn Pelicans and Kyabram Bombers downed Shepparton Lawn Blues.

A dominant Tongala continued its impressive GM3 season by downing Nathalia 12-98 to 1-45 at home, while GM4 had Kialla Park Old Students down Nathalia and Tatura Tornados pick up a close away win over Kyabram Redbacks.

In the GM5 second-placed Numurkah Raptors caused an upset against the ladder-leading Tongala, while Tatura Lightning was to strong for Numurkah Ravens.