Galbraith Highland tennis round-up: Play-off glory for Elgin youngsters while Rothes women clinch Moray and Strathspey title
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Elgin Lawn Tennis Club's kids celebrated title glory in the Galbraith Highland League on Sunday.
The Duff Avenue youngsters were involved in two league play-offs against Bellfield Park from Inverness, and won them both.
In the under-8s league, Elgin endured a very close encounter at Forres which finished 8-8 in games meaning a points countback, which the Moray club edged by a 127-103 margin.
The Elgin under-10s hit top form to see off their Highland rivals by eight sets to four in their play-off at Nairn.
In the senior action, Moray clubs experienced some mixed fortunes in this league matches.
Rothes' women clinched the Division 3 (Moray and Strathspey) title despite being held to a 4-4 draw at Gordonstoun.
Challengers Grantown B also drew and Gordonstoun received a one-point penalty for cancelling their fixture.
Rothes must now take part in a play-off with the Highland champions to decide who goes up.
The Speyside club's men's A team continued their quest for promotion with a 7-2 win against Elgin C. The lead at the top is still just one point in front of Tain with R&A two points adrift.
Rothes B's form has been improving of late and were unlucky to lose out at home to Rothiemurchus.
Their first pair, Dave Watson and Jake Logan, had two closely-contested rubbers, especially the 1v1 contest which finished 5-7, 6-7.
The number two duo , Ross Elder and Will Masson won both their matches in three but the loss of a set in each spelt disaster for the Speysiders.
This week sees a Rothes derby being fought out and it will be interesting to see if the in-form second team can upset the A side. It comprises three of the sixteen-year-old youngsters who played so well in Speyside High’s Scottish Schools Cup run.
Rothes' mixed teams recorded 8-0 wins on Monday evening. The A team’s win away to Elgin C keeps them in the lead for first division tennis next year.
Elgin women’s A team’s title hopes took a dent with a 5-4 defeat at Aviemore. R&A now lead the race, but Elgin do have two matches in hand.
The match kicked off with the 1v2 and 2v1 rubbers and both were one-sided affairs: R&A winning the former 6-0, 6-1 with the latter going Elgin’s way by a similar scoreline.
The second round was more competitive. First to finish were June Buchan and Jenny Murdoch who, having lost a tight first set, showed their mettle by battling to a tie break in the second. Despite a valiant effort they went down but only just (8-6).
The score was now 4-2 to the home side with Elgin's only hope to snatch a draw, but Jasmin Taylor and Dawn Phillips had to win in two sets. A sluggish start saw them 3-0 down and they couldn't break back, even though they rallied to win the match 2-6, 6-4, 10-4.
Rothiemurchus were unable to capitalise on this win, losing 6-2 at Inverness.
Elgin men’s B team got the better of lowly Grantown A but only by the slimmest of margins. This match turned out to be a case of the proverbial game of two halves as both visiting pairs had relatively easy wins over the homesters’ number two seeds.
Duncan Jagger and Dave McPherson lost in two sets in the 1v2 rubber but the 1v1 contest was a three-set thriller. The Elgin lads took the first set 6-2, a scoreline that meant their side had taken the three points despite going on to lose the rubber.
Findhorn lead the way in Division 3 (Moray) but their latest outing ar Rothes was very problematic for them.
Despite frantic searching and cajoling, they could only field one pair, who were defeated in both rubbers by the home pairs of Johanne Dunn and Eoin Robertson, and Alannah Ayres and Jack McConnachie.
It hasn't been Forres Tennis Club's season as they have struggling in the men’s and women’s leagues, but the club can take some solace from the performances of their mixed teams.
The mixed first team is up there fighting for promotion to the top flight sitting one point behind Rothes A.
Forres this week defeated Nairn B who surprisingly put up a strong challenge. Andy Williams and Shona Marshall were involved in two three-setters, winning both.
The first round consisted of the 1v1 and 2v2 rubbers. Gavin Ross and Julia Thomas put Forress 4-1 up when they won a closely contested battle 7-5, 7-5.
Round two saw the coasters close the gap as Ross and Thomas went down 6-1, 6-4. It was not enough to bother the visitors as Williams and Marshall won 4-6, 7-5, 11-9 to make the final score 6-4 to Forres.
Lossie were only able to field two players for their Forres visit, meaning they started the match 4-0 down.
David Williams and Laura Kelly put up a strong fight for the visitors, taking both Forres pairs the three sets. First up were Ian Tregellas and Nikki Dean who lost out to the Lossie duo but the one set they did win spelled victory for their team.
Gerald Winkler and Janette Ker proved too strong for the Lossie pair and increased the scoreline to 7-3 with a 6-1, 4-6, 10-5 win.
Gordonstoun have not been setting the heather on fire this season. The men's and mixed sides sit bottom of their respective competitions.
The one exception to this tale of woe rests in women’s division 3 where they sit in third place. Their latest outing saw them play host to leaders Rothes and they gained a well-deserved draw, preventing the Speysiders from completing their fixtures with a 100 per cent record.
Lossiemouth men’s team lost their perfect record when bottom dogs Gordonstoun held them to a 4-4 draw.
Three of the rubbers were won in relatively easy style. The two Lossie combos, Keiran Carty and David Williams, and Ed Borrowman and James Gresswell beat Gordonstoun's Ned Joseph and Arthur Dammers 6-0, 6,0.
Leo Haumann and Cyril Brossouet were a different proposition, however. They romped to a 6-0, 6-1 win over Carty and Williams but had an altogether different challenge with Borrowman and Gresswell who had chances to take the first set tie-break but, in the end, failed to take them.
The Gordonstoun pair went on to rub salt in the coasters’ wounds by taking the second 6-2.
Results
Women, Division 1:
R&A 5 Elgin A 4
Division 2:
Elgin B 8 Forres A 1
Kingussie 8 Elgin C 0
Division 3 Moray & Strathspey:
Forres B 4 Grantown B 4
Gordonstoun 4 Rothes 4
Men, Division 1:
Grantown A 4 Elgin B 5
Division 2:
Elgin C 3 Kingussie 7
Lossiemouth 4 Gordonstoun 4
Division 3:
Elgin D 2 Rothes A 7
Forres B 4 Tain 6
Rothes B 4 R&A 6
Mixed, Division 1:
Elgin B 0 Elgin A 8
Division 2:
Elgin C 0 Rothes A 8
Nairn B 4 Forres A 6
Division 3 Moray:
Forres 7 Lossiemouth 3
Rothes B 8 Findhorn 0
14 & Under:
Bellfield Park A 12 Rothes A 0
Grantown 12 Rothes B 1
12 & Under:
Elgin B 0 Elgin A 12
Elgin A 12 Forres A 0
