Moray clubs in thick of Galbraith Highlands tennis league action
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The Galbraith Highland leagues moved into its second week with Moray clubs heavily involved in the action.
Aberlour made a welcome comeback to the Highland League fold, entering the ladies fourth division.
Following their hard fought draw at Gordonstoun in round one, they played host to the Kingussie seconds. It was a closely fought affair with the Badenoch women scraping it 5-4.
The turning point in the match came in the 1v1 rubber. Going into the encounter with high hopes, the homesters were sent reeling as the visitors romped to take the first set 6-2. The Aberlour pair, Marjory Stronach and Kerry Stewart, got their act together, taking the second set 6-4 and the match tie-break 10-4. Their next rubber was won 6-1, 6-1. Kathryn Outram and Anne Findlay did not have such a good evening, losing out in both contests
Elgin men’s A team derby, at home to Rothes, turned out to be a game of two halves with Elgin number ones, Henry Archibald and Mitchell McGrath, losing only three games from their four sets.
The task for the Rothesians was to defeat the Elgin number twos. Adam Macleod and Mark Hearns duly dispatched Ewen Fraser and Ed Borrowman 3-6, 2-6.
It was all down to the 2v2 rubber. Ross Elder and Chris Robertson were slow off the mark, and Fraser and Borrowman took full advantage, winning the first set 6-4. The second set was a complete turnaround, the Rothes pair racing through it to level matters (1-6). The match tie break was also one sided with Elder and Robertson taking it 1-10. So, it could have been a draw, but by winning that set Fraser and Borrowman secured the three points for their team.
Elgin A Ladies, the defending champions, got their season underway with a stuttering 3-3 draw at the Inverness Tennis & Squash Club. However, they put that behind them, in their latest outing, recording the 8-1 drubbing of Rothiemurchus. Jasmin Taylor and June Buchan led the way with 6-2, 6-2 and 6-1, 6-1 victories. Team mates Jenny Milne & Riana Oeschger dropped one set in their two outings.
Playing at Nairn, the Elgin Mixed A team were also victorious. Sally Walker and Lewis Simpson had two successes but there was some disappointment involved in that they were unable to score two, two straight set wins. Teresa Tait and Richard Wormald helped the cause by succeeding (6-2, 7-6) in the 2v2 contest.
Forres A ladies lead the Second Division promotion race after completion of the first two rounds. Their latest outing, though, was closely contested.
The two Forres pairs (Shona Marshall and Pauline Brown and Janette Ker and Sharon Carmichael) easily defeated the homesters’ second seeds. It was a different story against the first pair with Ker and Carmichael going down 1-6, 3-6.
Marshall and Brown also lost but by taking the rubber to three sets gave their team that extra point to secure victory.
The Elgin club also leads the way in Division 2 of the Mixed. Their home match v Elgin B was the closest seen so far in the campaign. Three, three set rubbers (two of those won by two point margins – 10-8, and 12-10 - plus a normal, first-to-seven breaker, showed how very competitive and closely matched the two foursomes were.
The Rothes Men’s B team are out in front in the fight for the Division 3 title. Their winning run continued with the 7-0 defeat of Forres B.
The margin of victory does not tell the whole story by any means. There was only one clear cut win, Martin Johnston and Neal Anderson defeating Owen Davidson Knight and Hamish Davidson, 6-1, 6-0.
Four of the remaining five sets were won by seven games to five. Knight and Davidson lost 5-7, 5-7 to Liam Anderson and Dave Watson who went on to beat James and Izaak Hutton 7-5, 6-3. The Hutton duo only managed one set of their second rubber as time ran out. The score was 7-5 to Johnston and Anderson.
The Rothes ladies A team received a bit of a setback when they were so near to victory at home to Grantown. The two Rothes pairs got the better of Grantown’s first seeds but lost out to their second string. Maureen Turner and Johanne Dunn won 6-2, 6-3; lost 5-7, 1-6. Meanwhile Laura Allan and Jane Sim won 6-4, 5-7, 10-6. That second set loss gave the visitors the three points.
The second ladies team started the season poorly but have been improving week by week. On their third outing, they just lost 4-5 to Bellfield C. Star of the show was eleven-year-old Calleigh McConnell who, partnered by Kate Malcolm, won both rubbers, but the second home pair, Jenny Shepherd and Martina Munro, unfortunately lost theirs.
The outcome could have been a share of the points, but sadly the loss of the tiebreak in set one of the 1v2 contest meant the women are still searching for that elusive first three points.
In the Mixed, Rothes lost 3-6 at home to R&A A. Michelle Fraser and Bradley Scott won 6-4, 6-3 and lost 4-6, 6-1, 5-10, while Maureen Turner and Jack McConnachie went down 3-6, 3-6; 6-7, 1-6.
Elgin B won 7-6 at Rothes in the 14-and-unders. The two clubs fielded many youngsters who will be competing in the 12s later in the year.
The homesters found themselves one player down due to illness, meaning that the Speysiders had to concede four sets before any tennis started.
Results: Calleigh McConnell beat Crystal Mackenzie 6-0, 6-1; Ruairidh Scott lost to Maya Kobedza 0-6, 0-6; Harris King beat Joseph Asiabani 7-6, 7-5. Calleigh & Ruairidh beat Crystal & Maya 5-7, 6-3, 10-8
Other results.
Men
Division 1: Elgin A 5 Rothes4; InvernessA 6 Elgin B 2
Division 3: Rothes C 0 R&A A 8; BellfieldPark C 8 Gordonstoun 0; Forres B 0 Rothes B 8;
Women
Division 1: Elgin A 8 R&A A 0; Nairn 6 Elgin B 4
Division 2: Inverness B 6 Elgin C 2; Rothes 4 Grantown 5
Division 3: Forres B1 Bellfield Park B 8; Grantown 4 ForresA 5
Division 4: Aberlour 4 Kingussie B 5; Rothes B 3 Gordonstoun 6
Mixed:
Division 1: Nairn A 3 Elgin A 6; Rothes 3 R&A A 6
Division 2: Forres B 8 Elgin B 3
14s
Rothes 6 Elgin 7
