The Tornadoes went into finals night at the Noosa Table Tennis Club as warm favourites.
Their opponents the Outlaws had unexpectedly snuck into the finals on a countback and were certainly seen as the underdogs.
The early matches went according to form.
The Tornadoes wunderkind Jonny Pace, the most improved player in club, made heavy weather of Brendon Crabtree, finally accounting for him, 11-4, 11-13, 11-4, 8-11, 11-8. Next up was John Cocks for the Tornadoes who had no answer to Eli Kulugin’s barrage of forehands going down 11-3, 11-9, 12-10.
The match was evenly poised at two games all.
But the Tornadoes took charge of the match winning the next three games to establish a solid 5-2 lead. Things weren’t looking too good for the Outlaws.
The Outlaws’ Steve Gardner attempted to stop the rot by comfortably accounting for Jonny Pace 12-10, 11-4, 11-7.
However the Tornadoes continued on their merry way, winning a match they weren’t supposed to. John Cocks with one of the heaviest chops in the club caused the first upset of the night. He downed Joe Laffey in five games, but only just, scrapping home in the fifth – 15 – 13. Things were looking a bit grim for the Outlaws trailing 3 – 6.
And there was to be no silver lining in this black cloud. The Tornadoes took five of the next seven games to end up with a comfortable 10-5 win on the night.
Player of the match was 17 year old Zac DiFabrizio who won his three singles and helped to make the Tornadoes’ victory possible.
Noosa Table Tennis club plays every Wednesday at the Noosa Leisure Centre from 6.45pm, come down for a social hit, all are welcome.
