Gunnedah tennis quintet earns top honours at Narrabri

Gunnedah had five first placegetters and four runners-up as round four of the North West Regional Matchplay (RMS) series took place at the Narrabri-based Dangar Park Tennis Centre on April 6.

Zahra Scott, Millie Lyle, Allie Neilsen, Sophie Neilsen and Matt Rouse claimed top spot while Daisy Baker, Molly Murphy, Harry Tudgey and Lucas Sardinha placed second.

There was some friendly rivalry as three divisions featured first and second placegetters from Gunnedah.

There were about 60 youngsters including many regulars from Gunnedah, Narrabri, Armidale, Inverell, Moree and Tamworth.

Zahra was the youngest of Gunnedah’s winners as she took out the U8 girls division, having also won this division on home soil two weeks earlier.

Meanwhile it was the fourth successive time that a Gunnedah player won the U10 girls division, with Millie doing so for the third consecutive time after Belle Nichols won it in round one.

April 6 was also the fourth successive time that Gunnedah had a runner-up in the U10 girls division, with Daisy finishing in second spot after Belle had been there once and Charli Scott twice.

Allie defeated Molly in the U14 girls decider, after Allie had been the runner-up in round two before Molly won in round three.

Sophie won the U16 girls division for the third time in a row after being the runner-up in round one, although another Gunnedah player – Jazmin Hobden – made her work hard in the most recent semi-finals.

Jazmin ultimately finished third after going down to Sophie in a tiebreak.

In the open men’s division, Lucas was runner-up to Matt who was the second placegetter in round two.

Harry was the U14 boys runner-up for the second successive round, after winning a very tight semi-final.

Harry’s semi-final opponent was fellow Gunnedah player Lachlan Finnerty, who made a fine impression as he stepped up a level after winning the U12 boys division in round two.

The next round of the North West RMS series will be in Inverell on May 4.