Somerset's 1st Netball Team came second in the Queensland Independent Secondary Schools Netball Tournament. In the second week of the holidays, the girls travelled to Brisbane where they competed against 60 other schools from around Queensland.
A new format this year saw 12 new teams added to the competition, giving the girls more games to play and no rest day. Somerset's fourth place finish in 2016 was the best result to date, so this year with six new players all we were realistically hoping for was a top eight placing.
Games kicked off on Monday with Somerset scheduled to play four games before midday. The girls won all games convincingly giving them the confidence needed for the three games on Tuesday. Two wins and a loss to Matthew Flinders was a good day leaving us on track to achieving our goals. Two hard fought close wins on Wednesday put us in the top two of our pool and gained us a place in the quarter finals on Thursday.
Fatigue started to set in, just two wins away from the Grand Final. We knew a huge team effort and a lot of mental focus would be needed to beat two very good teams. Our first game on Thursday against St Margaret Mary's was not one of our best. We turned over a lot of ball and scores throughout the game were goal for goal. The girls continued to fight though and with a minute to spare, we capitalised on an opposition error to take the score to a one point lead. Our centre pass, scored under enormous pressure, was the clincher to win the game by two. Amazing teamwork, composure and heart from all of the players under so much pressure. Credit to Natalie Blauberg and Rylee Burns for an amazing result, shooting at 96 per cent.
We had achieved our goal getting to the top four and had just one win away from the Grand Final when we faced Sunshine Coast Grammar, who we suffered a 10 point pre-season loss to. While there was no expectation, it was evident the girls were hungry to earn a Grand Final spot.
The team was inspired by the huge support of last year’s players Xanthe Cerutti, Manon Chamberlain, Chelsea Blauberg and Sinead Kelly, who travelled to Brisbane especially be on the sideline. It was obvious from the first whistle, Somerset had come to play. The girls stuck to the game plan, giving everything in defence and were scrapping for every ball to gain turnovers. In the first half we were one point up and excitement set in.
We applied more pressure in the second half, turning over the ball with our goalies converting to take us to an eight point lead, with three minutes to go. The euphoria of potentially winning diverted us from the game plan and Sunny Grammar pounced but for them, it was too late. We had won the game by two goals and made history for Somerset. We would play in the Grand Final, for the first time!
The Grand Final was versing Matthew Flinders, who had been runners up in the last two QISSN finals and last year’s Vicki Wilson Cup winner. They had beaten us convincingly in pool play and were eager for a QISSN win. Although, excited to reach the final, we knew it would be a tough challenge.
We were as competitive as we could be and had some great phases of play but the better team on the day won. Final score 43 to 22. What an amazing week of Netball for Somerset who played 12 games played with just two losses and both were to Matthew Flinders.
Congratulations girls, for an outstanding week of Netball. You represented your College with such pride. Your dedication, commitment, hard work and in particular, your ability to come together as a team, on and off the court, was a huge credit to you all. Thank you girls. We are all extremely proud of you. Thank you too, to all the parents and supporters who were sideline every day. Finally a special thanks to our Manager Carla Cerutti and Statistician and Number One supporter, Xanthe Cerutti.
Somersets 1st Team and QISSN Silver Medalists:
Games and Scores:
Type on the line above then press the Enter/Return key to submit a new search query