Whangara v Ritana could be a thriller

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

NETBALL

Whangara Old Girls and Ritana Senior A should provide the tighter of the two Gisborne Pak’nSave premier games in the YMCA tomorrow.

The 11am encounter could be a replay of hard-fought previous games between those two teams, who seem to bring out the best in each other.

In grading, Whangara beat Ritana 26-20 but the hour-long match tomorrow could suit the Lytton students.

In their grading encounter, the students came back at their more experienced opponents in the final quarter.

“This could be a close game,” said netball commentator Sherrill Beale. “Both teams are rebuilding and have shown good passages of play.

“Tomorrow’s winners will be the team who work together and eliminate the basic errors.”

Ritana’s new coach, Claire Campbell, said her young team had been progressing well.

“We have had lots of personnel changes from last year and a new game plan. But the girls are more on board now and are maturing in their thinking about the game as a whole.

“They are looking forward to tomorrow’s game.”

The first premier game in the Y tomorrow features YMP Sunshine Brewery and Champers Horouta Gold at 9am.

“You’ve got the defending champions (YMP) against the bottom team,” Beale said. “So it will be a tough game for Horouta.

“YMP are coming off a close loss in their last grading outing against Taste One High School Old Girls.

“They will be fired up and wanting to start the round with a convincing win.”

All other competitions will be back on the Victoria Domain courts tomorrow — senior, secondary, intermediate and primary.

“The courts will be busy from 9am through to 2.30pm.”