NCS topple Go Monate to claim summit

Namibian Correctional Service (NCS) produced the biggest upset of the Khomas Netball League Super Ten season on Saturday, handing log leaders Go Monate Fella their first defeat to claim top spot in Windhoek.

NCS sat third before the round on 18 points, despite also being unbeaten this season. Meanwhile, Go Monate Fella led the standings on 22 points.

NCS went on a flawless run last weekend, completing a clean sweep of their three matches and adding a bonus point after scoring more than 45 goals in their final match of the round to move top with 31 points.

Their first victims were Tigers on Friday night at the Trustco United netball courts in the capital, where NCS won 28-23.

Their bonus point came the following day in their final match of the round, when they routed United A 46-21 at the Israel Patrick Iyambo Police College netball courts.

Battle of hard-hitters

However, the one clash that looked competitive on paper and promised to test NCS was their meeting with league leaders Go Monate Fella in their second match of the round.

The first quarter was tied at 7-7, before NCS returned from the break to pull seven goals clear at 19-12 and never looked back, eventually winning the match by 18 goals, 40-22.

The result did not favour the leaders, especially as they only had two matches in the round, having first edged second-placed Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust) 44-42 on Friday night.

Four points from two matches saw Go Monate Fella move to 26 points from seven matches, five behind NCS, who have played one match more.

‘It’s nothing big’

Reflecting on their first loss of the season, Go Monate Fella head coach David Faustinud took the result in stride, saying his players will be better prepared when they face NCS again in the return fixture.

“It was a tough game. NCS has the best [national team] players, who gave us a tough time. Nevertheless, my ladies gave their best,” he said.

“Despite the loss, we are still confident we are going to win this league. We will prepare better for the second leg. This was just the first. It’s really nothing big [that we lost]. We’ll go back to the drawing board and prepare for the next game.”

NCS goalkeeper (GK) Mwale Mulenamaswe echoed similar sentiments about the tightly contested encounter.

“It wasn’t an easy match. We all wanted to win and gave our all. [What made the difference] was that we communicated well, which made it easy to play with one another and helped us work as a team,” she said.

Tightly contested third place

The battle for third place also intensified, with Nust failing to pick up points in the round and dropping from second to fourth.

Nust remained on 18 points after six matches, allowing the University of Namibia (Unam) Jaguars to move into third following back-to-back victories over United A and Namibian Defence Force (NDF) Windhoek.

The Jaguars beat United A 38-33 before overpowering NDF Windhoek 47-25, with the latter result earning them a bonus point for scoring more than 45 goals. The results moved them to 23 points after eight matches.

Nust’s defeat to Go Monate Fella allowed Tigers to draw level with them on 18 points after their 42-31 win over Golden Girls B. Tigers, however, have played seven matches, one more than Nust, and remain fifth due to an inferior goal difference, 24 to Nust’s 95.

Another Super Ten team that enjoyed a dominant round was Wanderers, who strung together back-to-back victories by beating NDF Windhoek 42-35 before routing United B 55-26 to move to 16 points after eight matches.

The victories lifted Wanderers from ninth place in the relegation zone to sixth in mid-table.

Afrocat Lions dominate second division

In the second division, league leaders Afrocat Lions A remain a force to be reckoned with after picking up dominant back-to-back victories over Tura Magic and Unam Jaguars.

Afrocat Lions A beat Tura Magic 15-0 before routing Unam Jaguars 58-13 to stay top and unbeaten with 28 points after six matches.

Nust’s 42-28 victory over Afrocat Lions B saw them remain second with 14 points after four matches, while Tigers also retained third place with 14 points after a narrow 32-31 victory over Zebra Force.

Despite having a game in hand, Nust have a superior goal difference of 51 compared to Tigers’ 0.

The only other team from the division to feature in the round was City of Windhoek, whose 40-26 victory over Black Africa propelled them from eighth to fourth with 10 points.

Third division upsets

In the third division, the only result that went according to the log was fifth-placed Go Monate Fella beating ninth-placed United A 51-11.

The rest of the fixtures produced upsets, with lower-ranked teams beating sides above them on the log.

Fourth-placed Young Generations suffered a 47-39 defeat to seventh-placed Nust, sixth-placed Windhoek City lost 15-0 to 11th-placed Okamita United, and eighth-placed City of Windhoek fell 29-14 to 10th-placed Black Africa.

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