The participants of the ladies A grade tennis competition in Lithgow played their last final on Thursday, June 1. The competition will likely merge into the midweek women’s tennis competition due to a decline in numbers.
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“It was a day of mixed emotions,” Volleys team-member Margie Lowe said.
“Members recently decided to dissolve the competition in its current format, with the option of joining the midweek competition this winter as a trial. It is envisaged that the two competitions will merge at the end of the year in a new format.
“The unique personalities, along with the cameraderie and competition amongst this competition's players was always appreciated and will be missed"
- Margie Lowe
“On behalf of our current club members, I would like to take the opportunity to remember and thank all past and present members.”
Captain of the Volleys, Julie Grant, has played in the competition for over thirty years.
“The unique personalities, along with the camaraderie and competition among this competition's players was always appreciated and will be missed,” Ms Lowe said.
The grand final was between Bandits, who had the highest games score at the end of the earlier final round and Volleys, winners of the minor semi-final against Spinners in a 5 set, 37 games result.
Volleys began well with captain Julie Grant and teammate Margie Lowe taking the first set 6-3 against Debbie Williams and Jill Young. Lowe then backed up with Leanne Fitzgerald to win 9-0 for Volleys over Carolyn Andison and Jill Young. Carolyn was suffering a shoulder injury and played a beautiful forehand despite her injury. Jill also put away some great winning shots, however in the end, the games all went the way of Volleys.
Julie Grant and Leanne Fitzgerald teamed well to take the next set 6-3 against Debbie and Carolyn in a set containing a number of exciting rallies which could have gone either way.
The closest game came mid-match when Williams and Young of Bandits put up a great fight against Grant and Lowe, with a number of tricky shots in their repertoire, however Volleys edged ahead in the last game to win 5-4. The final two sets were an 8-1 win to Volleys, firstly when Fitzgerald and Lowe overcame Andison and Young and then with Julie Grant and Fitzgerald enjoying their win over Debbie Williams and Andison. Match result was a 6 set, 42 games win to Volleys over Bandits' 0 sets, 12 games.
Leanne Fitzgerald won an impressive 31 games for Volleys and Jill Young played valiantly all day for Bandits.
