In Round 8, 3 of 6 Maccabi sides won (with the Grade 7 side hoping to kickstart their season with a dominant win).

Grade 5 Section 3 Maccabi 3-5-53 defeated Kings Park 3-3-50 

Jordan Jaffe/ Jonny Henquin 6-4 6-2
Rob Minc/ Steve Gostin 7-6 7-5
Jordan Jaffe 3-8
Jonny Henquin 7-9
Rob Minc 9-7
Steve Gostin 8-9

In the doubles, Jordan and Jonny started slow, going 0-3 down but started to gain momentum and get the match on their terms, coming back to win in straight sets. Rob and Steve played a very good pair for a no.2 doubles, in a tight 2 hour affair, Rob and Steve played very well together and won some amazing points to win 7-6, 7-5. In singles, Jordan played against a 14 YO up and comer, and just could never get going, going down 3-8. Jonny started slow going down 2-5, but started to get into his rhythm and get it back to 7-7, unfortunately Jonny’s opponent raised his game and took the match 9-7. While the next 2 matches were absolute classics. Rob played a very high quality, back and forth contest. After going 5-1 up, Rob’s opponent slowly clawed his way back to being on serve, until Rob’s power and determination took him to another level, and a 9-7 win. Whilst, Steve played against a player with a very similar style to him, after unfortunately dropping 2 match points, Steve just lost a match tie break - a match that could have definitely gone anyone’s way. At the end of the day, a close victory that puts us in equal 2nd, just over the halfway mark 

- Jordan Jaffe

Grade 7 Section 3 Maccabi 6-8-56 defeated Beaumaris 0-0-16

Jess Flicker/ Geoff Rosenberger 6-2 6-3
Jan Tenenberg/Marcus Frajman 6-3 6-0
Jess Flicker 8-5
Geoff Rosenberger 8-1
Jan Tenenberg 8-0
Marcus Frajman 8-2

Our second win of the year. We were comfortable winners against a weakened Beaumaris side and hope to rise up the ladder in a late charge for finals contention.

- Marcus Frajman

Grade 8 Section 4 Maccabi 3-4-37 defeated by Patterson Lakes 3-4-44
Nathan Rapoport/ Ben Pollak 6-4 4-6 (10-7)
Ryan Behr/ Adam Needleman 6-3 6-4
Ryan Behr 2-8
Adam Needleman 3-8
Nathan Rapoport 8-3
Ben Pollak 2-8

Missing our top 4 players was almost a non issue as we almost stole the points from Patterson Lakes after a particularly strong showing in the two doubles matches. A big thanks to Nathan Rapoport and Ben Pollak who filled in and performed well. Nathan even dominated his singles in a tough match but unfortunately was the only singles winner on the day.

- Adam Needleman

Grade 9 Section 3 Maccabi 4-6-49 defeated Coatesville 2-2-37

Aaron Kramer/ Daniel Goodrich 4-6 6-4 (8-10)
Joel Rabinov/ Ian Altman 6-1 6-2
Aaron Kramer 8-3
Joel Rabinov 8-6
Daniel Goodrich 2-8
Ian Altman 9-7

Away at Mordialloc of all places( against Coatesville), we hoped to reverse last weeks doubles results.

Aaron and Daniel dropped the opening set 4-6, before stepping up. Despite a mammoth serving going against Daniel at 5-3, they closed out the set 6-4. They got out to a handy lead in the tiebreaker (5-0), before a knee injury cruelled Daniel for the rest of the afternoon, going down 8-10 in the tiebreaker.

Joel and Ian learnt that a week is a long time between matches. Went from 0-4 last week to 4-0 this week. Anyway they limited the errors (along with Ian hitting some backhand winners) to seal a 6-1, 6-2 win. 

In singles, Ian got the early break. He played against an opponent who despite hitting plenty of errors in the doubles, cut them out a bit in the singles. Ian had 7-4, but unable to close. His opponent got 2 breaks for 7all. Ian then stepped up for a 9-7 win.

Aaron got out to 4-0 lead and despite a little hiccup for 4-2, won 8-3.

Daniel tried braving it out but to no avail, going down 2-8.

Joel got the early break for 3-0. However the opponent cut out some errors for 3all. Joel had a vital hold of serve for 4-3. Joel getting the break for 7-5 (and then at 30-0) missed a sitter of a smash. Cost a game, but broke for 8-6 to seal the win.

Overall: Great to record our first away win, however it comes at a cost. Should have been a 5-1 or 6-0 win if Daniel didn't get injured. We are in such an even section that every match is vital (the 8th placed side has beaten 3rd and 4th the last two rounds). Now we aim for back to back wins for the first time this season (we play the top side next week).

- Joel Rabinov

Grade 10 Section 3 Maccabi 1-1-17 defeated by Kings Park 5-7-54

Charlie Landau/ Akash Lagad 4-6 3-6
Sebastian Raboy/ Ash Raboy 1-6 0-6
Charlie Landau 0-8
Akash Lagad 1-8
Sebastian Raboy 0-8
Ash Raboy 8-6

A tough match for the boys today. We versed the number one team on the ladder currently and also had a few of the Maccabi guys out of form. Nevertheless we went into battle heads high!

Charlie and Akash did well to keep up in the doubles and went neck and neck in both sets, but unfortunately couldn’t hang on and lost both sets 4-6,3-6.
Seb and Ash had some tough opponents - some heated points and plenty of deuces! The scoreboard didn’t do the match justice, going down 1-6,0-6
Charlie kicked off the singles and played an amazing opponent, but unfortunately went down 0-8.
Akash too had a tough opponent with killer serves, took the first game but couldn’t hold on to the rest of the match going down 1-8.
Seb too had a difficult match today going down 0-8 in another match where the scoreboard didn’t do it justice - plenty of close games but unfortunately just couldn’t convert.
Ash was the team's saviour! Winning 8-6 in an amazing match. This was the second time Ash went up against the same opponent and continued his undefeated match up.
All in all, a tough day for the team going into the season break…but the team are well positioned to push into the top 4 - it’s going to be vital for the team to keep up their form and practice during the break!

- Akash Lagad

Grade 10 Section 4 Maccabi 1-1-34 defeated by BLTC 5-7-55

Riley Brick/ Jaxson Brick 4-6 5-7
Stephen Gorenstein/ Jacob Nathan 4-6 6-7
Stephen Gorenstein 4-8
Riley Brick 8-5
Jaxson Brick 0-8
Jacob Nathan 3-8

Both doubles matches were enthralling contests that could have gone either way. Unfortunately they both went the wrong way with the Brick brother doubles going down 46 57 (depsite being up early in both sets) and Stephen and Jacob 46 67. 
This meant that we had to win all four singles matches to get over the line for the day. Unfortunately, only Riley was able to get the win, his first for the season. Riley was down 3-5 before he made a tactical change and won 8-5. 

- Stephen Gorenstein