Ocean Grove immediately turned its attention to a third match-up against unbeaten Geelong Amateur after a ruthless Bellarine Netball League A Grade qualifying final win against Queenscliff at Portarlington on Saturday August 17.
Ammos have won both home and away encounters, but Grove coach Mel Holmes said her side is now at full strength and was looking forward to the game with the winner to progress directly to the grand final.
“We’re ready to go,” she said.
“No injuries and looking forward to tackling Ammos again. We’re obviously going in hoping to win, but at the end of the day it’s good to have a hard hit out because we’ve not played them at full strength.”
The Grubbers outclassed Queenscliff to win 70 to 31 in the qualifying final.
The Coutas brought the pressure early, but it didn’t take long for Grove to assert its superiority all over the court.
The defensive pressure caused numerous turnovers and with six unanswered goals to finish the first quarter, Queenscliff would never recover.
“I think our defensive pressure was good everywhere,” Holmes said.
“We certainly made it harder for them to get the easier feed working it in, otherwise it was going to be goal for goal so I asked them to step up defensively and they did, so I was really happy.
“We spoke about it as a group that we needed a strong start and we would just build nicely and we wanted to be relentless. So that was our aim and it worked.”
Holmes opted to start Bec O’Neill, in her 100th game, and Zanna Woods in attack with Jess Leader at wing defence and Georgia Ryan at centre.
And with Georgia Berry and Rhiannon Whitson outstanding in defence, Ocean Grove never looked like losing. Youngster Arlee Bennett got some minutes in the final quarter as did Anna Smith and Courtney Leith.
“Arlee and Zanna did play a lot together anyway (earlier in the season), but I wanted to give Arlee the experience, remembering she’s 19, to play finals and what it feels like,” Holmes said.
“We’ve got the depth to go to our bench if we need to, I wanted to make sure that everyone had that experience. I thought it was a really solid team effort. It was hard to choose the best, so that’s a good position to be in. The vibes are really high and really encouraging on the bench. The girls back each other in so it’s good to have options and not be predictable. I think we’re pretty versatile.”
Ocean Grove will meet Geelong Amateur in the grand final qualifier on Saturday August 24 at Portarlington starting 2.30pm.
It’s not all doom and gloom for Queenscliff either.
The Coutas showed glimpses of their talent and earned the right for a second chance, but were beaten by a better side. Shooter Kaitlin Gladman was again terrific with 26 goals.
They meet Torquay in the first semi-final at Portarlington on Sunday August 25 starting 2.25pm.
Torquay ended Newcomb’s vastly improved season with a 51 to 38 win. Sarah Butler was terrific at goal defence and Elisa Hall was good at the other end of the court.
