Section 2 Premiers L to R: Joey Pat, Matt Lincoln, Arthur Kaganovitch and Max Needleman. Absent: Steven Gostin
After a protracted finals series, two Maccabi teams have won Grand Finals in the Bayside Regional Tennis Association (BRTA) Saturday afternoon adult competition. The Grand Finals were played two weeks later than originally scheduled, due to poor weather and the Easter long weekend.
Maccabi's women's side were dominant all season and deserved to win the Section 3 Grand Final. Led by Lauren Yarrow and featuring Themis Antony, Yael Gigi, Emma Kaye and Sharon Duieb, the Maccabi side were too strong for Royal South Yarra. The team can now look forward to a more challenging season as they are promoted.
Our top men's side capped off a spectacular season, defeating MCC Glen Iris in a very competitive decider. With captain Steven Gostin in Sydney representing Team Victoria in the Maccabi Tennis Interstate Challenge, young guns Arthur Kaganovitch, Joey Pat, Max Needleman and Matt Lincoln performed on the big stage to secure the Section 2 win.
In Section 9, Joel Rabinov, Daniel Goodrich, Jordan Jaffe, Ben Pollak, Jordan Davis and Ron Kotev had a strong season and finished on top of the ladder after the regular season. However, the Grand Final saw them come up against MCC Glen Iris and the Maccabi team were edged out, 4 rubbers to 2.
The jubilant Maccabi section 3 women's team L to R: Yael Gigi, Lauren Yarrow, Themis Antony and Sharon Duieb. Absent: Emma Kaye
Section 9 runners-up L to R: Jordan Jaffe, Joel Rabinov, Ron Kotev, Daniel Goodrich, Jordan Davis and Ben Pollak
GRAND FINAL MATCH REPORTS:
Section 2 Men Maccabi 3-5-48 def MCC Glen Iris 2-2-35
Arthur Kaganovitch 8-5
Max Needleman 4-8
Joey Pat 7-8
Matt Lincoln 8-4
Kaganovitch/Needleman 6-3 2-1
Pat/Lincoln 6-1 7-5
Was a great contest held in good spirits, tied 2 rubbers all after singles.
Arthur played classy tennis to beat a strong opponent
Max competed well but lost to a better player
Joey had a close match but lost in the end to more experienced player
Matt had a comfortable win over a steady opponent
In doubles, Matt and Joey had a convincing straight set win
Max and Arthur were up a set and a break before the other team decided to call it a day
- Max Needleman
Section 3 Women Maccabi 5-7-55 def Royal South Yarra 1-2-30
Themis Antony 8-1
Lauren Yarrow 8-2
Yael Gigi 6-8
Sharon Duieb 8-1
Antony/Yarrow 1-6 6-3 6-2
Gigi/Duieb 6-3 6-4
We all put up a fight to be victorious against Royal South Yarra who defeated us previously but this time around we won when it counted!!! Everyone gave it their all and couldn't have wished for a better result!! Well done ladies!!!
- Lauren Yarrow
Section 9 Men MCC Glen Iris 4-6-56 def Maccabi 2-3-43
Joel Rabinov 7-8
Daniel Goodrich 8-6
Jordan Jaffe 8-7
Ben Pollak 5-8
Joel Rabinov/Jordan Davis 4-6 2-6
Daniel Goodrich/Ron Kotev 6-3 3-6 0-6
Playing on a beautiful sunny Melbourne day infront of friends and family, we had 4 courts against Glen Iris.
Jordan Jaffe played in the shortest match of the day (which was surprising). The games were quite short, not a lot of deuces but a tough match. Jordan was not playing his best tennis but saved 2 match points at 7-6 gave him the confidence to come from behind in the tiebreaker 4-2 to win it 7-5
Ben started in the worst way possible, going down 4-0 (as his opponent was more precise and smarter than last time). Although throughout the match Ben had spurts of momentum, he could never take full advantage of it. Ben managed to get back to 6-5 down but then lost it 8-5. 90% of the games went to deuce but Bens main problem was that he couldn't convert the game points.
Great start for Daniel getting out to a 4-0 lead, before Matt stabilised getting it back to 4-2. From there the returner kept breaking (and even despite watering the courts at 6-3) that trend continues until Matt held serve to keep momentum at 6-5, before Daniel held serve for 7-5. At this stage, all the other singles matches were completed. Matt won a game that went for 10 deuces, before Daniel served it out 8-6. Tough match all the way through with both players working very hard for every point and Daniel was happy to get over the line (in a match that went for 2 hours including warm up).
Daniel and Ron were really focused to get a 4-0 lead, before losing the next 3 before closing out the set. Both were serving well and winning the points that were there to take from the net and baseline.
Joel was down 3-1, before getting on a roll to lead 4-3. From there it was a tussle, with another tiebreak inevitable. Unfortunately the opening point of it was probably the match: Joel controlled the point and somehow lost it and had chances throughout to win a few more points but couldn't (especially 1-4 both players having no idea if the opponents pass was in, so a replay followed). Down 6-1, the opponent ended up winning it 7-4.
Joel and Jordan D had a sense of dejavu going down an early break (2-0) before levelling at 4all before losing their 3rd set 6-4 against the same pair... At this stage (at end of both opening sets) the scores were dead level, so it was game on. Again down 2-0, and despite having chances to break couldn't. Down 3-2 with multiple break points gone begging was the final straw as the opponents took the win 6-2.
Unfortunately Daniel and Ron dropped their intensity as their service games and unforced errors cost them in the second set (3-6) before a combination of that (and the fact that they probably knew the result) meant they lost the final set.
Overall: Disappointing to lose. We had a good season (including our first finals win) however we didn't win the final that mattered most. Daniel played well and lifted his game, while the rest can't be said of us in singles: Jordan J was lucky to win (again scraped through in a tiebreak against their captain) Ben didn't play well and I was found out (and again let Jordan down in doubles). Personally, despite losing both matches last time, they didn't have a game plan against me. Today it was quite evident that they did (my singles opponent didn't volley last time, did so on the third point and doubles opponents somehow got the ball to drift on the serve, so I couldn't get a clean hit on it). Apart from 4 points in the doubles, (when we changed tactic in the second set), the game was played on the oppositions terms. Even in my singles, I couldn't hit forehand to forehand (and no topspin or loppiness) which was effective last time.
Just feel like I kept losing every 50:50 point, game, line-calls, balls that seem to be going out dropping in... All 3 opponents I played today seemed to nail a first serve for a unreturnable serve at deuce or break point every single time!
What probably best summaries the season is that Jordan J is finding ways to win matches whereas I'm finding ways to lose: no better example than today.
I would say most of us (apart from me) are clearly better players now compared to 6 months ago.
Thanks for Jordan J and Ron for joining our team this season (their first full season of pennant although Ron did play some games previously). Jordan won every match he played and Rons only losses where against Glen Iris (and a singles loss to the other Maccabi side). Good luck to Jordan in winter: hopefully we get the chance to play them (Rons team) in winter finals!
Finally, we have winter pennant starting and we have two new recruits (with differing playing styles): Jack Stock and Michael Rabinovich. So we will be ready for round 1, back on the familiar blue homecourts!
- Joel Rabinov