St Paul’s Collegiate School’s Open A netball team won the Waikato premier reserve title in late August, heading into the Upper North Island Secondary Schools competition on a high note.
The UNISS competition was held during tournament week and attracted more than 112 teams across four divisions from the Waikato, Auckland, South Auckland and North Shore areas.
St Paul’s competed in the A grade division against the upper North Islands best secondary school netball teams.
The team convincing won games against Lynfield (37-21) and Kristin (28-16) and had a narrow loss to Westlake Girls High School by two points.
“The narrow loss to Westlake showed us that we can foot it with the top four teams in this competition,” Hannah Munn, St Paul’s Open A Netball Coach, said.
The pinnacle match of the tournament was a closely-fought top-eight decider between St Paul’s and local rivals Waikato Dio.
“On paper Dio is a superior team however our girls pushed them hard in a tightly fought battle,” Munn said.
“Many local Hamilton netball staff watched this game and commented that it was widely considered as the game of the tournament.”
Munn said the team has worked hard throughout the netball season to prepare for the arduous tournament. It was pleasing to rise to 15th position from 22nd in 2014.
“We achieved our goal of securing a place in the top 16 of the A Grade competition. It was pleasing to rise to 15th position from 22nd in 2014.”
