04 Sep 2014
This year, Orange High School's High A netball team qualified for their 21st Combined High Schools Final 16's Knockout Netball Competition. The competition was held at Illawarra Sports Stadium from September 2-3rd. High A was excited as usual to be part of this competition but also unsure of how they would go due to numerous injuries sustained throughout the season, as well as ongoing ones. They unfortunately lost Chloe Riley with a knee injury during Astley Cup, Laura Harris with a dislocated shoulder during the regional State League competition and Katelin Eslick with a strained back in the months and days leading up to the event. Helena Griffith was brought into the team as a result of this injury toll. They were placed in a pool consisting of numerous Sports High Schools and Northern Beaches College who were runners up in 2013 and knew that they had to finish in the top 4 of that pool to qualify for the top 8 on Wednesday. After a tough day of competition on the Tuesday, they finished in 4thplace in their pool, pitting them against Westfields Sports High School to play off to get into the top 4 of the competition. Westfields is the strongest netball school in NSW and High A managed to make them think about their combinations and decisions on court. They lost 10-30 and then played Elderslie High School, which they won convincingly by 10 goals to play off for positions 5-6 in NSW. Their opponent for this match was Warners Bay High School who had a lot of height at either end of the court. Both teams had tired and the lead changed several times throughout the match, however, some full court pressure and patience in getting the ball into the shooters saw High A take the win 27-24. This gave them 5thplace in the NSW CHS Competition. Congratulations to the girls on their perseverance and determination, as well as to the parents who supported them throughout the tournament.