DOING THE DOUBLE! Gaynstead, Denbigh go after junior, senior ISSA netball titles
Gaynstead and Denbigh High will be seeking double titles when the finals of the ISSA schoolgirl netball competition for urban and rural teams take place at the Leila Robinson Courts today as both schools have their junior and senior teams in today’s finals. The competition will get under way at 1O:30 a.m as the finals of both competitions will be preceded by the third-and fourth-place games.
After seeing his senior team winning the urban title in his first year at the helm as coach, Christopher Smart is exuding confidence going into the final, where he will meet Gaynstead for the second year in a row.
“First I must say I am glad we are back again in the final to defend our title,” Smart said. “Gaynstead has been good all season, but most of the time, people look good based on the kind of opposition they have been playing. Excelsior is a quality team, and we are ready for the challenge. The only challenge for this year was that we lost four of our players from last year’s winning team. But at the same time, we have got players like Racoya Douglas, Thomas and Hasana Williams, who have been good enough and we are expecting a good finals but are confident about retaining our title.”
In advancing to the finals, Excelsior defeated former champions The Queen’s School 43-34.
DOMINANT TEAM
After losing several of their top players this season, it has still been a dominant Denbigh team that has been impressive all season in their matches. They qualified easily on Tuesday after brushing aside Anchovy at G.C. Foster to advance to another finals. Coach Christine Bartley is looking forward to the challenge with a strong Holmwood team. ”Going up against Holmwood, we know it is going to be a very tough game because I know they will be coming to try and dethrone us, but we will be coming to do our best on the day and, hopefully, we will be successful,” said Bartley.
Both Denbigh and Gaynstead will start favourites to win the rural and urban Junior titles. Denbigh outlasted May Day 33-28, while Manchester got the better of Glenmuir 26-18 to advance to the rural finals. St Catherine got the better of Norman Manley 28-17, while it was a 36-29 win for the defending champions over St Hugh’s.
Urban: Juniors third place: St Hugh’s vs N Manley – 10:30 a.m. Juniors final: St Catherine vs Gaynstead – 2 p.m. Seniors third place: St Catherine High vs The Queen’s School - 11:30 a.m Seniors final: Excelsior vs Gaynstead – 4 p.m.
Rural: Juniors third place: Glenmuir vs May Day – 10:30 a.m. Juniors final: Denbigh vs Manchester – 1 p.m. Seniors third place: Manchester vs Anchovy – 11:30 a.m. Seniors final: Holmwood vs Denbigh – 3 p.m.