Eric and Val made of the White stuff in pairs championship

Eric and Val share the same surname, but they'd never met until a chance meeting at a social bowls event earlier this summer.

"Because we both have the surname White people think we have a connection, but that's not the case,'' Val said.

"I was playing jackpot pairs with my husband, Trevor, and I was skipper and Eric was skipper.

"Eric and I got talking and we talked about playing the pairs event together."

The rest they say is history.

Eric and Val defeated Golden Square's Taylah Marron and Tom Lester 15-12 in the Bendigo Mixed Pairs final at North Bendigo on Sunday.

They now progress to the regional finals where they'll try to win their way into the state championships.

"I won a couple (of events) a few years ago, but this is the first time I've won the pairs, so it's special,'' Eric, who plays pennant bowls with Kangaroo Flat, said.

"It's unusual to meet someone once and then play an event with them, but we were very successful.

"Nearly all our games went down to the wire, but we both bowled pretty well."

Eric and Val made a bright start to the final and jumped to a three-shot lead.

However, Marron and Lester responded strongly and collected six shots on one end to grab the lead.

One bad end did little to hinder Eric and Val's confidence.

They picked up two shots and four shots to regain the lead and that's where they stayed.

"It was a very good field, so we were very happy to win,'' Val, who plays pennant bowls for Bendigo, said.

"It gives you a bit of a boost."

Eric and Val started the tournament on Saturday morning with a 16-11 victory over Ann Borham.

They backed up with an impressive 20-9 round two win over Geoffrey Gibbs and completed the day with a 15-12 quarter-final victory over Daniel Harvey.

Sunday morning's semi-finals went down to the wire.

Eric and Val dug deep to defeat the highly-rated team of Susan Howes and Matt Robertson 15-14, while Lester and Marron outlasted the Kelly/Roney combination 17-16 in a thriller.

Finals results from the Bendigo Mixed Pairs:

Quarter-finals: E. and V. White d D. Harvey 15-12, S. Howes/M. Robertson d A. Verbann/S.Priest 23-9, T. Lester/T. Marron d P. Hughes 16-6, T. Kelly/L. Roney 14 d S. Koch/G. Wilson 14-13.

Semi-finals: E. and V. White d S. Howes/M. Robertson 15-14, T. Lester/T. Marron 17 d T. Kelly/L. Roney 17-16.

Final: E. and V. White d T. Lester/T. Marron 15-12.

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