With a scheduled bye in the GM1 division for the opening round Goulburn Murray Lawn Tennis Association round, all eyes were on the lower grades where there was no shortage of action for fans to feast on.
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Shepparton Giants delivered a huge display across the board to do a job on hosts Numurkah, with Ella Rohde and Karen Ranson pulling the strings to orchestrate their side's victory.
After bowing out in four of the opening six singles ties, the Giants showed their strength in the doubles to record five unanswered wins on the back stretch to prevail 7-63 to 4-47.
At Yarrawonga, a Nathalia contingent packed with talent flexed its muscle, only conceding three sets on the way to a comfortable 8-71 to 3-49 victory.
Alex Bakogianis and Jodie Daniel were on song, breezing through their singles rubbers and linking up in the doubles to push Nathalia out to an unassailable lead, while Jack Wilson played his part in a couple of vital ties.
At home, Stanhope/Mooroopna’s lethargic opening rubbers allowed Cobram Crocs to capitalise on the slow start to storm away with bragging rights.
The Cats were looking up for it as Fleur Nurse easily swept Marika Newey under the rug to reduce the aggregate to two sets to one, but the home side was at were at sixes and sevens as Cobram’s Tamara and David Bate took the fight to the hosts and helped the side pull away with the win 9-75 to 2-47.
In a Shepparton derby, the Lions took control of the court early in the piece to put the match out of contention for a lesser Saints outfit.
Conceding the opening six straight rubbers can be deemed near impossible to recover from, and that was exactly the case for the Saints as the Lions fired first to sit pretty.
A hard fought 8-7 battle from duo Tanya Brown and June Simpson gave the Saints their first mark on the scoreboard and a sparkle of hope, but it was too little too late as the Lions pressed on to take three more rubbers in the 9-74 to 2-41 rout.
In the GM3 Open division, a late flourish from the Kyabram Bombers delivered four points against Tongala, Numurkah Ravens throttled Tatura 9-72 to 0-23, and Kyabram Kamikaze overcame counterparts Kyabram Redbacks.
