by Bruce Bowering
The Baw Baw Squash Club winter competition grand final was between the top two teams Renegades and Hurricanes, with the Hurricanes ultimately taking the win.

To get the night under way Catherine Wallace took on Phil Henderson as she did last week. Unfortunately for her it was almost a carbon copy of that match.
Phil's power hitting and excellent variations in serve, particularly to Catherine's backhand, gave him many easy points.
Catherine occasionally caught Phil out of position and hit some clean winners, but Phil was always in control and comfortably took out the match 15/5, 15/5, 15/7 to give the Hurricanes a flying start.
For his dominant start to each of his three finals Phil was awarded the player of the finals series.Match two was between Matt Jehnsen and Al McArdle.
Al has had a far better season than Matt and was expected to win. Matt is tenacious and has often grabbed a game against better players, but sustaining the pressure has proved elusive. That is, until the biggest match of the tournament.
In this match he did everything right. His shot selection was impeccable. When Al was drawn forward Matt lobbed the ball deep. When Al was in the centre he drove the ball straight back tight against the wall. When Al was caught at the back he dropped the ball short. When Al was near him he did a cross-court drive.
Al tried to hit his way out of trouble but that didn't work as Matt anticipated effectively and his quick reflex response was not expected.
That is not to say Al played badly. In the end there were only six points between them, so it was an enthralling game to watch.
Al's court coverage and strong drives won him many points.
In a match such as this a player must take advantage of every opportunity and Al missed a vital one on game point in the third game when he just had to drop the ball short with Matt at the back, but his shot didn't make the front wall.
It was evident that Matt had more purpose in his play and everything fell into place for him.
In the end he won the match 15/13, 15/12, 17/16. It was by far the best game he has played since joining the club.
It gave the Hurricanes an almost unassailable lead and led, almost universally approved, to him being awarded the player of the grand final award.
Anthony Walker and Steve Mooney were the combatants in the third match. It was all or nothing for Steve as, for the Renegades, he had to win in straight sets.
He dominated the first set 15/5 with his control of the front court as well as with low, hard drives cross-court or straight depending on the position of his opponent.
It appeared that a comfortable win was on the cards, but Anthony has twice this season taken Steve to five sets. The next two games were evidence of this competitiveness.
Anthony stopped making errors, started hitting winners, short or deep, tight down the wall on both sides of the court which Steve either couldn't reach or was pressured into making a mistake.
Anthony quickly established a lead in the third game and maintained it for most of that game until Steve reached game point first.
Anthony drew level and Steve, as receiver, called "short," meaning that whoever won the next point won the game. Anthony served and Steve hit an outright winner to take the second game 15/14.
The third game was almost identical with Anthony picking up many of Steve's front court shots and responding with winners of his own.
He again led for most of the game and again served for the game at 14/12, but crafty Steve once more drew level.
This time Anthony called "long" where the winner is the first to 17. Anthony again got to game point but steady Steve kept his cool to finally win the match 17/16. It was another fitting finals match.
Steve's win kept the final hopes of the Renegades alive, but only just.
Paul Hammond had to win without conceding a game and, at the same time, by not conceding an average of no more than seven points a game.
This appeared a monumentally difficult challenge as his opponent was Mike Griffith, who has rarely been beaten over the last few years.
Illustrating this is the fact that Mike again won the most consistent award.
It was the eighth time he has won the award and the seventh in successive competitions. As expected Paul threw everything into the first game with well-directed shots and an effort to chase down Mike's returns, but it is almost impossible to place the ball out of his reach.
Despite Paul's best efforts Mike took out the first game 15/8 to secure the championship for the Hurricanes.
In the next game with the title gone Paul took it a bit easier and Mike emphasised his competition dominance by winning it 15/0.
In the third game Mike eased off and Paul overcame the errors that crept into his game in the previous set. The rallies were lengthened which gave the gallery an excellent view of high level squash.
Nevertheless, Mike still had all the answers, but the 15/13 final score indicated the resurrection of Paul's commitment.
Hurricanes ultimately won the title 3/9/173 to Renegades 1/3/126.
Other awards on the night were the most improved award which went to Brad O'Meara, and a one-off special recognition award to Catherine Wallace for being a super substitute.
There was also a presentation to the winner of the Tuesday night handicap tournament. With a handful of points separating the top four players it was Anthony Walker who collected the winner's trophy.
The summer competition commences on November 6 with grading this Thursday.
Interested players should attend or, if unable, contact Dave on 0408 577 398. Play starts at 7:30pm.