LOWER Great Southern tennis players ended the season in fine style at the 2008 CBH Country Zone Challenge.
The 16 and unders had a wonderful event, finishing runners-up in A-grade and winning the B-grade title.
The 12 and unders also had a good week, with the A-grade team making the semi-finals and the B-grade winning a close sudden-death super tiebreaker to be crowned champions.
In the 14 and unders, B-grade came third, while the A-grade team were on the unfortunate end of a three-way countback for semi-finals berth and just missed out by a matter of games.
The senior A-grade team had its best ever finish coming third behind powerhouses Midwest and Southwest.
Four of the LGS’ top juniors played in the A-grade team, bringing youth and enthusiasm.
Robert Partington and Holly Horwitz were the number one players, holding their own all weekend.
Horwitz defeated this year’s ladies country week champion, while Partington won all but one singles match.
The B-grade senior team also performed well, taking a convincing win in their final match after a very close two days. “Again our kids achieved great results in the juniors,” regional coach David Kerr said.
“Our zone is pretty small compared to others, but we mix it and shake them up at the top,” he said.
“To win two events and get runner-up in another is awesome.
“The runner-up was only lost on a countback of games, so we could have even taken three of the six titles on offer.”
“Having a junior in our senior team gave them awesome exposure and confidence going into a higher level of tennis.
“Holly beat the ladies singles champion from country week, Rebecca McLeod and Jesse Barrett had good wins.
“Rob Partington was awesome playing number one singles and only lost one match and that was to a former tour player from Midwest.
“The kids playing at the top and winning and holding their own gave our more senior players a massive chance to capitalise on our depth.
“We got close to Midwest, losing five tiebreakers.
“That was the difference between us getting runners-up.”