Table Tennis

It was a monster of a day of Interschool Table Tennis today, with 32 players across 6 teams competing at the Upper Hume tournament at the Wangaratta Showgrounds, and 2 of our teams finishing Runner-Up.

Our Intermediate Girls (Year 10s Hannah Dods, Amarina Huggins, Naomi Roberts and Bethany Tanner) led the way, blitzing their first 4 opponents and looking potential Champions. They first defeated local rivals Cathedral College (4-2), with #1 Seed Tanner (13-11, 11-7) and #2 Seed Dods (11-7, 6-11, 11-9) victorious in their Singles rubbers. They then snuck by Victory Lutheran College Wodonga (3-3, 8-6), with Dods (11-6, 11-5) and Huggins (11-1, 11-7) executing Singles sweeps. Their next scalp was Catholic College Wodonga (4-1), with all 4 girls clinching their Singles - Huggins with a 2-0 sweep (11-8, 11-5), and the others all 2-1.

That sent them to the Grand Final against Grace Christian College Wodonga, also undefeated with a record of 3-0 to that stage. There, Tanner got them off to a killer start (11-6, 12-10), and then Huggins equalised (11-6, 9-11, 11-5) to keep her team alive with it all coming down to the Doubles. With Tanner & Roberts defeated (8-11, 8-11) it was up to the pair of Dods & Huggins. Sadly, they lost both sets narrowly (9-11 and 10-12), to leave the team going down 2-4 rubbers.

The Year 7 Girls (Millie Bosley, Bella Boulton, Issy Burke, Paige-Lee Dummett and Paige Tanner) were the next best outfit, also finishing Runner-Up with a 1-1 record. They were stitched up by a strong Cathedral team (0-6), but bounced back with a 4-2 victory against Grace Christian College. In that win, #1 Seed Mia Simpson (7-11, 11-9, 11-9), #3 Bella Boulton (12-10, 6-11, 11-9) and #4 Paige-Lee Dummett (11-7, 11-4) all triumphed in their Singles rubbers, and the the pair of Simpson and # 2 Seed Millie Bosley won their Doubles rubber (11-5, 11-5) 

The Year 7 Boys (Noah Anderson, Will Boulton, Angus Fraser, Lane Sloan and Zak Winn) almost replicated the Girls, going down to Cathedral College and then ending up level with Grace Christian College on 3 rubbers and 7 games each, with Grace getting the nod on overall points (129-112). In that narrow loss, #2 Seed Zak Winn (11-7, 11-7) and #3 Dodge Lawrey (12-10, 11-9) won their Singles rubbers, and then #1 Seed Angus Fraser & Winn won their Doubles (7-11, 11-6, 11-4).

Elsewhere, the Year 8 Boys and Intermediate Boys both finished 3rd with win/loss records of 1-2. The 8 Boys geabbed their win in a thriller against Grace Christian College, getting it on overall points (98-96). Number 1 Seed Hugh Spring dominated his Singles rubber (11-3 and 11-7), as did #2 Zeke Hogan (11-2 and 11-8), and then Spring & Hogan lowered their Doubles opponents into caskets as well (11-7 and 11-3).

The Inter Boys got their win against crosstown rivals Cathedral College, coming back from a 0-2 rubber deficit to storm back to win it 4-2 thanks to Singles wins from #3 Seed Harry Hyland (11-4 and 11-6), #4 Skelly Manning (11-3 and 11-0), and both Double teams also saluting - Armstrong & Bode Crawford (11-4 and 11-3), then lifelong buddies Hyland & Manning (11-6, 11-6).

The Year 8 Girls didn't manage a win but picked up a couple of rubbers against Grace Christian College in their 2-4 loss on a day of Character Building. Number 1 Seed Ruby DeFazio clinched her Singles rubber (11-4, 11-9), and so too #2 Seed Tirandi Abeyawardana (11-9, 11-7).

With both our Senior Girls and Boys teams in April also coming 2nd, that means that 4 of our 6 Table Tennis teams this year were Upper Hume Runner-Up.

Thanks to all 32 players for representing the school today. Again, other much larger schools didn't enter any teams today, but our kids were there having a red hot go in a Sport most had never played before in competition.

Boys Netball results from today are still coming through and will be reported on ASAP.

Jud Mullins

Sport Coordinator