With the upcoming long weekend having annual tournaments take place at Tatura and Cobram, the association decided to package its qualifying and semi-finals into one weekend to allow its players to get out and compete in Labour Day competitions.
In division one, this meant two qualifying finals were played on Saturday, with the headline act being a top-of-the-table clash between Kyabram-Echuca and Numurkah Warriors for a spot in the decider.
The combined Kyabram-Echuca outfit came into the clash a red-hot favourite after not dropping a match throughout the home and away season.
But the finals are a different beast and a fired-up Warriors team pushed the minor premier all the way to ultimately fall by a slim 7-72 to 5-63 margin.
Despite the loss, the fact the Warriors claimed five rubbers was pleasing for captain Mark Mills, who said his team gained a lot of confidence from the showing.
“Starting the weekend with a battle with Kyabram-Echuca, but I thought as a whole we gave a pretty good account of ourselves,” Mills said.
“On the men’s side of things we got some really positive results we can take forward, while we also learnt a lot from where we went wrong which will put us in good stead.
“Overall though we really matched it with them for the majority of the day and it wasn’t until those final couple of sets in the mixed doubles that things got away from us.”
Mills was particularly proud of his young players, who he said stood up to the intense pressure of a final.
“There were so many positive results for us on the day,” he said.
“Young Jack Bassett really stood up with three wins, while Grant Chappell in the doubles had some very good wins against some tough opposition.
“So the biggest thing we can take out of Saturday’s result is belief that we can match it with Kyabram-Echuca.”
The other match on Saturday had Shepparton Lawn Tropics easily account for Velvet Tigers 10-91 to 2-49 in the elimination final.
A trio of victories for top-two seeds Jeremy O’Brien and Isabella Crossman served as the catalyst for the result, as the Tropics put themselves in a position to compete for a spot in the grand final the following day.
But continuing on its momentum from Saturday’s honourable loss, Numurkah produced a performance for the ages to romp into the grand final with an 8-69 to 1-41 victory over Shepparton Lawn Tropics in the semi-final.
The Warriors were carried by their big guns, as Aaron Breust, Nick Fenaughty, Bassett and Mills himself had solid victories in their respective singles bouts.
Mills said it was fantastic to see his team maintain its intensity 24 hours after the tough battle with Kyabram-Echuca.
“We were pretty confident (heading into the match), having beaten them a couple of times, but being a final we also did not want to get too far ahead of ourselves,” he said.
“But the way we attacked the game was first-class in my opinion, everyone was up to the task and after they really took it up to us early, we really showed our class with some very positive results.”
This now sets up a tantalising grand final between Kyabram-Echuca and Numurkah Warriors on Saturday, March 18 at Cobram Lawn Tennis Club.
