Kaierau the only unbeaten side in Whanganui premier netball competition as end of round one looms

WHS goal shoot Montel Vaiao Aki produced a solid performance to help her side to a 55-46 win over Kaiwhaiki on Monday night. Photo / Bevan Conley

Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau is beginning to assert its authority on the Whanganui premier netball championship with yet another dominant win in the penultimate game of round one on Monday night.

The defending champions led throughout increasing its score in each quarter to emerge 78-26 winners over the competition's youngest team Cullinane and remain the only unbeaten side after game four of round one.

Despite the big win Kaierau coach Walter Edmonds is far from happy with over all performance and that targets set for Monday night's clash were not completely nailed.

"It's good to get the win and remain unbeaten, but we set ourselves some targets and we didn't quite nail them," Edmonds said.

The most important target was points on the board and Edmonds said they missed by two goals.

"We need to set ourselves targets to give us something to reach for and not let complacency set in. We managed toi introduce a new player into our midcourt game with Hollei Gabrielsen at wing attack. She had a great game. She used to play for Utiku the last time they competed in the premier grade a few years back.

"We have one more game of round one to play next week and then face round two," Edmonds said.

Meanwhile, Phillips Electrical Whanganui High School and Marist A1 have both found their mojo with wins over Kaiwhaiki and Mere Te Aroha respectively.
WHS beat last season's runners-up Kaiwhaiki 55-46, while Marist A1 had a close tussle with MTA to emerge 51-48 victors.

WHS raced out to an 18-7 lead after the first quarter extending to 31-18 in the second, before taking their foot of the throttle in the third quarter to allow Kaiwhaiki a glimpse at 41-35.

"It was a good game, but it did come off the back of three hard days in a row in Palmerston North for most of my girls," coach Lisa Murphy said.

"All but three of my girls play rep netball and played four games in three days leading up to last night. We raced away to a solid lead in te first two quarters, but then lapsed in the third before picking up our game to draw away again. I think the third quarter lapse was down to a bit of tiredness."

While Murphy was thrilled with her entire team, she did single goal shoot Montel Vaiao Aki out for special mention.

"Montel put in a really solid performance with her shooting and her positioning."
Marist A1 spent the entire game trying to shake a determined MTA to end the match with just a three point win.

"We were two up after the first quarter, four up after the second, two up in the third and then just three at the end, so it was a really close game," coach Donna Jeffery said.

"Obviously we are two very evenly matched teams and we struggled to shake them, although they did play a very good game. I was really pleased with our goal shoot Candice Clark who shot 86 per cent and was named our Player of the Match."

Points from round one are carried through to round two with all six sides hunting down a top four spot.