Two in with top four chance

Both St Matthews Collegiate and Wairarapa College have qualified in the top four of the lower A grade section at the Lower North Island secondary schools netball tournament being played in New Plymouth and are in with a chance to make it to the plate final.
That will happen if St Matthews beats Napier Girls High today and Wairarapa College beats Woodford House
St Matthews gained a two goal break in the third quarter of their match with Wanganui College yesterday and held on to win what was a scrappy game 20-18.
They then played Chilton St James and in another cliffhanger were beaten 30-29.
A highlight of both games was the outstanding play of Pip Lynch at centre and wing attack.
Wairarapa College scored two comfortable wins in section play at the Lower North Island secondary schoolgirls netball championships at New Plymouth on Tuesday while St Matthew's Collegiate had a loss and a win.
In their opening match against Chilton St James Wairarapa College had moved out to a 16-11 advantage by halftime and maintained the momentum to win 35-20.
It was an outstanding team effort which produced the win with Hope Phillips, Rosie Mahoney and Sarah McKenzie all having huge games.
All the Wairarapa players got court time in their second match which saw them wallop St Peter's College 38-18. Kate Hurrell, Rosie Mahoney and Sarah McKenzie had strong games on defence while Logan Karaitiana, Hope Phillips and Abby Hull were dynamic on attack.
St Matthew's Collegiate went down 27-35 to Hutt Valley High School in the last of their section games. Once again a slow start was the major problem and it was not until the final quarter that they really hit their straps. It was then that wing attack Pip Lynch created space for her supports and wing defence Ashley McDougall picked up a number of intercepts.
The afternoon match produced a better result for St Matthew's despite them being seven goals down to Opunake High School inside the first five minutes. They managed to reduce the deficit to four at the end of the first quarter and moving Harriet Somerville to centre and Pip Lynch to wing attack paid dividends in the second quarter, at the end of which they led 14-13.
The third quarter saw St Matthew's outscore their opposition 12-5 and they eventually ran out winners of a match in which one of the umpires was Toni Wilson from Masterton by 35-28.
Goal shoot Sophie Ross and goal attack Ashleigh Somerville responded well to some vigorous marking by the Opunake defence while at the other end of the court there was some fine play from Milly Bell and Ella Biggs.