Two teams battle for fourth spot as semis loom

The semifinals of the Premier 1 Wanganui Netball Championship are taking shape with three teams cementing spots after Monday night's competition.

Unbeaten Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau was always a certainty, while Wanganui Athletic Sports and Phillips Electrical Wanganui High School were both favoured to make the grade.

Regardless of the outcome of next week's games, WHS A1 and WA Sports will do battle in the 2nd v 3rd semifinal after convincing wins on Monday.

The two teams met in Round 2 with WHS claiming victory by two goals. Both teams have had the highest turnover of players and six rounds later, both are looking far more polished. WA Sports were not at full strength in that game, so it will be an epic battle.

On Monday WA Sports won every quarter to beat Taihape 52-29, while WHS A1 had a reasonably tight battle early with Mint Cafe Marist A1 until clearing out for a 58-30 victory.

Meanwhile, Mere Te Aroha, the likely fourth semifinalist, also won all four quarters to beat Cullinane 63-34. Kaiearu, as usual, completely dominated to dispatch Kaiwhaiki 63-33.

"Pretty dominating performances by all four winning teams," Netball Wanganui chief executive Parekura Muraahi said yesterday.

"I think it may even have been a first where all four winning teams also won every quarter. But really it seems there's nothing that can stop the Mean Maroon Machine that is Kaierau at present.

"The fourth spot is technically still up for grabs although the odds lie in favour of Mere Te Aroha who is currently on 10 points and closely followed by Kaiwhaiki on 8. Should Kaiwhaiki beat WHS next week and Mere Te Aroha lose to Taihape by more than three, then Kaiwhaiki could still grab the fourth spot. Marist, Taihape and Cullinane are out of the hunt for top four,"

Next Monday marks the final round of Premier 1 netball with the semifinals on July 25.