Raymond Graham, Gleaner Writer

WITH two sets of matches in the respective groups to be played in the second round of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Corporate Area netball competition, top junior and senior teams will be looking to cement their places in the semi-finals, which will be held at the Leila Robinson Courts next week Wednesday.

Penultimate matches will be played tomorrow and defending junior and senior champions, St Hugh's and St Andrew High, respectively, are in pole position.

After picking up three consecutive wins, the Minette Reynolds-coached St Hugh's are on nine points and should pick up another three when they face Tarrant in a Group One game, before closing out their schedule on Friday against struggling St Jago, who are yet to pick up a point.

The race to join St Hugh's in the semi-finals will be close as three teams, St Andrew High, Norman Manley and Holy Childhood - who were all beaten by St Hugh's - are on six points after scoring two wins apiece. St Andrew High will face St Jago and Norman Manley will go up against Holy Childhood tomorrow. St Andrew are expected to win and move to nine points, while it will be a toss-up between Norman Manley and Holy Childhood.

Victory for Holy Childhood would put them in good stead as they have Tarrant in their final game, while Norman Manley will play St Andrew in their final encounter. Interestingly, two teams could finish on 12 points for second and force a play-off to make the semis.

In Group Two, The Queen's School and Camperdown High are both on nine points after picking up three wins each. Both have easy matches tomorrow and should move to 12. Camperdown will play Bridgeport and Queen's will battle Vauxhall. This will set up both teams for a key final encounter on Friday, where they will meet to decide group honours.

SENIORS

Last year's beaten finalists, St Catherine High, and former champions St Hugh's will meet in a mouth-watering Group One senior clash tomorrow. Both have nine points after scoring three impressive wins and will definitely want to win in a bid to avoid a rampant St Andrew High in the semi-final. They are expected to win their final group encounters on Friday when St Hugh's take on St Jago and St Catherine oppose a faltering Mona High team.

Defending champions St Andrew are perfect in Group Two with nine points from three wins. One of those wins came against favourites Queen's, who they surprisingly blew away and should end up on maximum 15 points after playing Charlie Smith tomorrow and winless Greater Portmore High on Friday.

Queen's and Camperdown High have six points, but Queen's are favoured to advance with St Andrew High. Queen's should get the better of Camperdown and then Bridgeport to book their semi-final spot.