08/09/2026
Winter Finals Day
Our Winter season wrapped up on Saturday, 5 September with Grand Finals in Junior and Senior Tennis Geelong competitions and a Grade Semifinal in Melbourne Pennant.
Grovedale had four teams in Junior Grand Finals: Girls Section 1 and Section 3, Boys Section 6, and Green Ball Section 2. Our Boys Section 6 team had lost to Torquay White in the semifinal, but fought their way back to a rematch in the Grand Final. The match was extremely close, splitting the singles but taking a four-game lead into the doubles. Both sets almost went to the wire, but our boys won one and lost one each 7-5 to clinch the win, 3-34 to 3-30!
Our other three junior Grand Finalist teams were not quite as fortunate, but fought valiantly through wind and wet weather in each of their matches. Girls Section 1 ran into a very tough Ocean Grove team, and went down 3-1. Annabel King won the only set, 6-2 at #1 singles. Girls Section 3 also lost 4-1 to a very good Hamlyn Park team, with Tejini Venkatasalam winning at #4 singles 6-1. Green Ball Section 2 went up against their rivals from Leopold. Each team won two sets of singles, and Grovedale’s Aden Sidor and Geoff Kyrie Bacareza won 6-0 in doubles, but Leopold snuck out the last doubles to win 3-27 to 3-24.
Our lone Senior Tennis Geelong Grand Finalist team was Open Section 1, where they hosted Moolap after both teams beat minor Premiers Newcomb in the first two weeks of finals. Michael Best polished off a perfect singles season, winning 6-3 6-2. However, Moolap handled the conditions better than Grovey in doubles, grabbing the momentum midway through the first set and not letting go to win 6-4 6-1. Drawn on sets and games going into the second rubbers, we needed a big result. With a few more weather delays and debates about court conditions, the last two rubbers were almost as even, with Michael and Curtis Fitzgerald winning 6-2 6-2 in doubles, but Moolap prevailed 6-1 6-2 in singles to clinch a brutally close one-game victory, 2-4-33 to 2-4-32.
Our remaining Melbourne Pennant team had advanced to the Grade 14 semifinals at Upwey South after an upset of the top team in their section, Deepdene, in the first finals round. Our boys battled hard in unfamiliar territory against the best regular season team of the sixteen teams in the grade, but went down 3-8-62 to 2-3-46.
We had a fantastic turnout at our first ever Winter Presentation Night, with over fifty attendees arriving just as the Section 1 Open final was finishing. Pizza was served for everyone, and club Head Coach and Junior Convenor Julian Arnold, Senior Convenor Lisa Graham, and club President Tyler Krumholz announced the April Club Champions alongside twelve award winners from Winter comp:
Boys Club Champion: Oscar Wang
Girls Club Champion: Tahnee Sanim
Men’s Club Champion: Taj de Clifford
Women’s Club Champion: Matilda Sutherland
Open Doubles Club Champions: Stephen Muratori and David Muratori
Junior Sportsmanship Award: Ruben Carlson
Junior Best Teammate Award: Lucas Andrews
Junior Best Team Manager Award: Dominic Sidor
Junior Best Celebration Award: Geoff Kyrie Bacareza
Junior Comeback King/Queen Award: Aden Sidor
Junior Best Performer Award: Emilio Patel
Senior Sportsmanship Award: Ebony Lunt
Senior Best Teammate Award: Finn Duffy
Senior Best Team Captain Award: Andrew Smith
Senior Walking Wounded Award: Curtis Fitzgerald
Senior Best Afternoon Tea Award: Donna Schoenmaekers
Senior Best Performer Award: Michael Best
Our Winter season is now complete, but we are looking forward to Summer! Junior and Senior teams have been submitted and the Saturday season starts on 10 October, but Spring Thursday Triples registrations are still open until 19 September: https://forms.gle/LRwyFYk3BawxLuvw5.
Start planning on turning out for a pre-season working bee to clean up both club venues, a welcome back night on 10 October, Trivia Night on 7 November, and the Christmas Party on 12 December. Go Grovey!
