Hard court advantage to Barwon

WITH only three rounds until finals in Tennis Geelong’s senior competition, the Section 1 finals qualification is going down to the wire.

While Newcomb and St Mary’s have cemented their spots as one and two, Barwon Heads’ loss to Hamlyn Park last weekend leaves its finals hopes uncertain.

This week’s clash between the second-placed St Mary’s and Barwon Heads, who are sitting in third position, will be pivotal to Barwon Head’s finals chances.

To win, Barwon Heads will have to reverse the outcome of its previous encounter with St Mary’s, without the help of Jeremy Palmer-Morgan.

The side’s top player hopes to return from injury next week.

But Barwon Heads’ captain Ben Dew is confident they can turn the result around on Saturday and get the win.

“It should be pretty tight. Last time we played we were leading by six games going into the last two sets but ended up going down by a couple of games, so we choked a bit,” Dew said.

“But we’ve got some great depth in our team and we’re confident we can match it with the best of them.”

According to Dew a switch from synthetic grass to hard court may also play into Barwon Heads’ favour.

With Barwon Heads facing a tough run home against the top-placed Newcomb and inform Surfcoast, it will be hoping to firm up its chances of a finals berth with a win this weekend.

“We definitely haven’t cemented our finals place and we’ve got a pretty tough run home,” Dew said.

“We’re confident going in but if we lose we just have to make sure we get some sets every week.”