Heads in the right place

BARWON Heads will gun for silverware in Tennis Geelong’s top divisions after a triumphant weekend on the courts.

Barwon Heads progressed to the grand final in both Section 1 and Section 2 after solid wins in Saturday’s semifinals.

Barwon Heads proved too strong for St Mary’s in Section 1 (4-35 to 2-31) while the Section 2 outfit downed Grovedale Black 4-38 to 3-27 to secure a place in the decider.

“We’ve gone from a club in the lower sections to having our two top sides in the grand final,” so we’re very happy,” Barwon Heads president Brett Armstrong said last night.

“Our Section 1 team will play Newcomb in the final and we’ve got the Battle of the Bridge against Ocean Grove in Section 2, so it’s very exciting for the club.”

Jeremy Palmer-Morgan set the tone for the victory with a 6-4 win over Jason Raselli before teammates Greg Luke and Ben Dew prevailed.

Alex Boyle was the only player to drop a set for Barwon Heads, going down to Michael Stuhne 4-6.

“It was reasonably tight, but in the end they didn’t have to play through to the end,” Armstrong said. “But in the early sets they split them and were able to close it out.”

The Heads’ Section 2 outfit was clinical against Grovedale, outpointing them by a set and 11 games.

Barwon Heads has a tough task of winning the Section 1 big dance, meeting the undefeated Newcomb, but the Section 2 side is well placed after claiming the minor premiership.

“In Section 1, we finished fourth and Newcomb have been undefeated all year. We played them a few weeks before the end of the season and we lost on games and it was three sets all,’’ Armstrong said.

“The only thing is there’s rain forecast this weekend, the seven-day forecast says we’ll be 20-40mm of rain and the top-ranked side wins, so that means we’ll win in Section 2 and lose in Section 1.”