The Victoria Smashers lived up to their name on Sunday as much as reputation for an 8-2 win, but it was a moral victory of sorts for Tasmania.
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Those two rubbers won on the opening day of the Ede Clendinnen Shield staged in Launceston for badminton's interstate supremacy was as good as it gets for a minnow.
Or as good as Tasmanian veteran Brent Munday could ever try to remember back.
After all, Victorian teams have won the trophy through all of the years since 2012.
"We were trying to think back to the last time we have actually taken two rubbers off Victoria," Munday said.
"It has sort of been five or six years, I think, since we have been able to do that.
"It was a fantastic effort by the [winning] girls involved."
In a format that has singles and doubles for women, men and mixed pairings, it was the strength of three of their six females that stood tall.
Abbie Rothery had only returned from the UK before holding on firmly over Grace Hanratty to collect a 21-17 21-17 win in the second of the women's singles.
"It was great to see her sort of play her best badminton again," Munday said.
"She has always shown the potential, so it was great to get the rewards for that."
Arguably more impressive was the win from from Meg Graham and Leesa Grundy.
The Tasmanian pair edged their way past Australian junior star Kaitlyn Ea and one-time national senior doubles regular Lee-Yen Khoo amid a 11-21 21-18 21-18 triumph.
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"That was just a huge win for them," Munday said.
"I have said it before that they are a linchpin of our team.
"They have just really stepped and continue to lead the way for the state."
The eight Tasmanian losses that were in straight sets were pushed aside as the team basks in a positive start.
Munday felt challenging the traditional best early on will do wonders for the team confidence, adding that the standard has now been set.
The host state next takes on Queensland in an 8:30am start on Monday.
They are coming off a 7-3 defeat on Sunday to NSW Thunder in the other battle at the Elphin Sports Centre.
Western Australia had the first-round bye.
"It can go one way of two ways, but when you start as positively as that, it definitely helps," Munday said.
"Definitely winning the overall thing was always going to be a big expectation, but now the possibilities have opened up a bit more.
"We've shown that some of our players are ready to step up at that level and at that standard.
"Now it'll be a tough job of being able to maintain that after those expectations have been set at the start of this tournament.
"But it's definitely a step in the right direction for us as a state."
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