Seeded teams advance to ISSA rural netball semis

There were no surprises in Wednesday’s ISSA rural schoolgirls netball quarterfinals at the GC Foster College Indoor Court as all seeded teams booked their spots in today’s semi-finals at the same venue.

Double defending champions Holmwood Technical stayed firmly on course to retain both their junior and senior titles after securing solid wins. Their junior team got by Dinthill Technical 31-20 while the seniors — who are also the defending all-island champions — delivered an impressive 54-20 victory over Old Harbour High.

Denbigh High also kept their double-title hopes alive, extending their unbeaten run in both divisions. Their juniors, the only unbeaten junior team left in the competition, easily brushed aside Mt Alvernia High 31-5. The senior team followed up with a comfortable 47-25 win over Hampton High.

In other junior quarterfinal action, Bishop Gibson High defeated Green Pond High 28-18, and May Day High had a 36-28 win over Titchfield High.

Among the seniors, Manchester High got past Dinthill 41-24, and Mile Gully High cruised to a 48-19 win over Green Pond High in the remaining quarterfinal matchups.

In today’s junior semi-finals, May Day High will face Holmwood at 10 a.m. before Denbigh High meets Bishop Gibson at noon. Both encounters are expected to go down to the wire.

May Day, who stunned Holmwood 38-34 in the preliminary round in October — and also defeated last year’s beaten finalists Manchester High — will be hunting another big win to secure their first-ever final berth. However, Holmwood have looked stronger with every game since that loss, and with their strong record at this stage, will start as slight favourites.

Denbigh, the standout team of the season, will also be eyeing a place in the final, but they cannot afford to take Bishop Gibson lightly, especially after the Mandeville-based school eked out a narrow 37-36 win over May Day earlier in the season.

In senior action, Holmwood meet Manchester High at 11 a.m. to be followed by Denbigh versus Mile Gully at 1 p.m. Both Holmwood and Denbigh — last year’s finalists — are heavily favoured to win and set up a much-anticipated rematch in next week’s championship showdown.

The finals are slated for next week Tuesday.