St Peter's Netballers Compete At Zonals

Waikato Bay of Plenty Zonal Secondary School Tournament

7 August 2017

On Sunday the St Peter’s Premier and 10A netball teams travelled to Rotorua to compete in the Waikato Bay of Plenty Zonal Secondary School tournament.

Premier Team: cheers before taking the court for the final.

This tournament hosts all the top Premier and Year 10 netball teams from around the region - as far as Gisborne, the Coromandel Peninsula and northern Waikato.

The Premier team played consistent netball all day, displaying some amazing skill, speed and tactical execution.

Still carrying a few key players with injuries, they won all their pool games by substantial margins. They saved their best performance for the semi-final against Waikato Diocesan, beating them 25-12 to take their place in the final.

This outstanding performance came with some challenges for the team in the last few minutes, losing Ashley Maylor, who had been shooting between 85-100% in her quarters, as well as Sara Steffert and Chelsea Sherry-Tau, to injury in the dying minutes of the semi.

Taking the final with only six of their regular players, only one regular shooter and calling up Samara Mockford from the 10A team, the Premier girls were resilient in overcoming the challenges, putting out a brave performance against finalists Hamilton Girls' High.

Hamilton Girls were fortunate enough to bypass a semi-final game by getting the pool that went straight through to the final. Our girls fell short of victory, however knowing they were among the top two teams over a huge regional netballing area is a real credit to the girls who took to the court.

Our 10A team improved throughout the tournament after a slow start and had some convincing wins against Western Heights and Aquinas. They played some effective attacking netball and won some impressive ball on defence.

Defender Bella Illston had a standout performance and was identified by selectors in the Tournament Team.

Lisa Mather and Georgie Edgecombe were also selected in the Premier Tournament team - a reflection of their consistency and tenaciousness throughout the tournament.

Up and coming St Peter’s umpires Kira Morrison and Ruby Hosking were also identified as Tournament Umpires. An outstanding achievement, and fantastic to have both our umpires recognised in a very competitive umpiring programme.

The Premier team now focus their attention on a four-day Sydney tour over the leave weekend to gain valuable experience against top Sydney age group and school teams as part of their preparation towards UNISS (Upper North Island Secondary School) tournament in September.