The GMLTA’s eighth round of the season, and final match day until the season resumes on January 31, has flipped the script on what we thought we knew about each club, leaving the championship window wide open for every team in the league.
In two gripping clashes that came down to the wire, both the underdog sides have come up trumps, aceing the clutch moments to upend the top sides’ seemingly stable positions at the pointy end of the table.
The Velvet Tigers fired a warning shot to the competition, defeating the ladder-leading Shepparton Lawn The Valley in a tight match at Nathalia Lawn Tennis Courts.
Having been positioned in the lower rungs of the competition all season, the Velvet Tigers entered the match as underdogs to The Valley, and from the first serve the match was being played out as The Valley may have expected.
Although the opening three rubbers were closely determined - 5-8, 6-8, and 7-8 - The Valley was on the winning end of all three to open up a formidable early lead.
But the Tigers were resilient, returning serve with three rubber wins of their own, in much more convincing fashion.
Wins of 8-5, 8-2, and 8-0 squared the set's ledger, while handing the Velvet Tigers an 11 games lead thanks to their dominant three-rubber stretch.
The next two rubbers went in favour of The Valley, however, with the ladder-leaders resuming the expected trajectory of the match - but the Tigers were firing on all cylinders.
They claimed the next three sets to claim their sixth rubber win, an unpassable figure.
And while The Valley tied it up with a sixth set win of their own in the final rubber of the match, the Tigers’ games tally was insurmountable, ultimately upsetting their rival 6-81 to 6-69.
But it wasn’t the only surprise of the round.
The Shepparton Lawn Average Joes, narrowly in third place after a strong win over Tatura in round seven, defeated second-placed Numurkah, now leaving the reigning champions shockingly outside a double-chance position entering the Christmas break.
The Warriors claimed the first rubber 8-2, before the Average Joes scraped by 7-8 for their first set win of the match.
Numurkah would remain ahead in the opening half of the match, leading four sets to two, but as the game shifted to doubles, the Average Joes would turn the tide.
Average Joes’ Nick Gattuso and Zach Ranson made the inroads early, before Luke Turcato and Will Rohde followed suit.
Doubles duo Leanne More and Gabrielle Dwyer then smashed their Numurkah opponents 8-2 to stamp dominance on the scoresheet, before Ranson and Rohde combined to claim a fourth consecutive rubber win.
The Warriors marginally got over the line in the 11th set 8-7 to set up a thrilling final rubber, the scores poised at 5-69 to 6-71.
A 12th rubber win for the Average Joes would guarantee victory, while the Warriors required a win of 8-5 or greater to avoid an upset loss.
The latter did not occur for the reigning champs.
A 4-8 win for the Average Joes sealed a 5-73 to 7-79 victory, and a leapfrogging move to the top of the ladder.
After a 1-2 start to the season, the Shepparton Lawn-based club has risen to pole position for the first time this season following three straight wins, and is now the only side to boast four wins in the league entering the holiday pause.
The Valley’s shock loss has sent it to second, separated over fellow three-win sides Numurkah and the Velvet Tigers by one and seven premiership points respectively.
Racquets will be swung again following a six-week holiday period break, with Numurkah to play the Grasscourt Snippers when rallies return, while the Shepparton Lawn teams will do battle in a fierce top of the table clash, the potential to be crowned champion as believable as ever for all GM1 outfits.
