On Saturday, six schools took part in the annual Cranleigh Under Nine Netball Tournament.  We were met by horrendous downpours on the morning of the tournament which thankfully cleared to a bright and sunny afternoon.

 The tournament was to be run as a round-robin, which meant that Amesbury were to play 5 matches of 12 minutes.  The first match saw us up against St. Andrews, Woking.  The girls really seemed to have prepared well for the first game and shot into action with some lovely fluid passing between Pippa Tuffin at Centre and Antonia Taor as Wing Attack.  They managed to provide the shooters, Lauren Thomas and Imogen McWhirter with some wonderful shooting opportunities which they took advantage of to give us a good lead.  The first match was an impressive 6 - 1 win for Amesbury.  The girls continued to play well yet seemed to lose some of their energy and drive and stopped moving off the ball with conviction.  This lead to a number of very close matches which unfortunately didn't go our way (Edgeborough, Lost 3 - 2 and Cranleigh School A team, Lost 3 - 2.  Next up was St. Ives, who the girls had lost miserably to earlier in the season.  Lizzie Sturges and Eva Smorczewska defended expertly and made numerous interceptions to save us from any breakthroughs while Isabel Hall was as a steady presence as Goal Keeper.  The score was a fantastic 2 - 1 to Amesbury at half time, however, unfortunately the girls couldn't hold on to their lead and let the game slip away from them to a disappointing 7 - 2 loss.  The final game saw the girls back to their fighting best with an impressive win against Cranleigh B's which resulted in a 7 - 3 score line.

The girls all thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and left the tournament in a very respectable fourth place.  Well done to the whole team!

Mrs Lauren Dover

Head of Girls' Games