A stunning six-game triumph over Nathalia in Saturday’s GM2 Mixed competition decider got the Lions over the line — but it was far from smooth sailing.
Nine games to the good, it seemed the flag was wrapped up for the eventual winners with only three rubbers remaining.
However, nails were down to nubs at the death, with the side ousted in all three.
But with the game-advantage reading in the Lions’ favour, sighs of relief sounded out as a fabled repeat premiership was confirmed.
“It is certainly a nice feeling going back-to-back,” Lions’ Viv New said.
“We were nine games up going into the mixed — we actually lost all three of those rubbers, but the job was already done.
“Esma (Corbic) with her six-love got us over the line.”
Corbic, named best-on-court, was instrumental throughout the afternoon.
Another to star was Tanner Hunter with a resounding 6-1 victory, with New singling him out as a linchpin for the Lions all season.
She also mentioned how the strategic change to pit Nathan Mitchell up against Nathalia weapon Alex Bakogianis proved fruitful, replacing Tom Turcato in the number two spot.
After scraping through in the sides’ earlier semi-final meeting, New was rapt at how her troops battled to go back-to-back.
“We put Nathan in at number two who won a tiebreak against Alex (Bakogianis) who is a real tough opponent,” she said.
“Nathalia definitely put up a good fight, we only beat them by two games in the semi-final and I think everyone thought they were going to win.
“Reaching two in a row, it was a great team effort to get us there.”
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