New talent augurs well for tennis champions

USING a mixture of the new and the older, PE Club have been crowned PE and District men’s premier A champions in this year’s winter leagues.

It was a close finish at the end, with PE Club ending three points ahead of Victoria Park, whose rained-out game against NMMU A saw them share the points to trail PE on the final log.

In any event, VP would have needed 11 points from that NMMU game to overhaul PE, which would have been a tough task against a potentially strong varsity team.

Despite losing their clash to VP, PE Club were full value for their victory and encouraging for them is that four members of their seven-strong squad are still at school.

Shaun Watson and Dane Mechali are at Grey, while Justin Impey and Wade Hoft go to Pearson, and if PE can hang on to their services, their immediate future looks bright. Balancing the average age in the squad were No 1 Andrew Stuart, still playing fine tennis at the age of 45, Brendan Dryden and Helgard Zietsman.

This season, Zietsman took the role as manager after breaking a bone in his left leg while playing Stuart in the Eastern Cape Veterans semifinals in June.

The women’s first league title was won by the consistent VP outfit, spearheaded by Jayne Turner, who were seldom tested in their competition.

VP won all four matches and ended with 42 out of a possible 48 points, finishing 12 points ahead of second-placed Oval.

The final logs are: