Defending champions NTU triumph 51-28 over NUS to move into IVP netball final

Story and pictures by Yvonne Yap and Chan Hui Mui/Red Sports.

National University of Singapore Sports and Recreation Centre, Friday, January 15, 2010 – Nanyang Technological University booked their spot in the Institute-Varsity Polytechnic (IVP) netball final once again with a 51-28 win over National University of Singapore.

NTU jumped out of the blocks early and took a 10-6 lead. Defenders from both sides tightened their defence, forcing several turnovers before NTU proved the stronger of the two to close out the first quarter 16-9.

The second quarter saw NTU widening their lead over NUS as they man-marked their opponents closely, turning up the heat on the NUS players and causing them to misplace long passes. Both teams traded goals till NUS’ Goal Shooter Rachel Leong scored after a build-up of short passes to reduce the gap to 18-12, before NTU responded with four goals.

Unforced errors by NUS’ Goal Shooter Rachel caused her team a few precious points, but she managed to muster another goal just before the half ended as they ended the first half 14-26 down.

Both teams made substitutions to their lineups in the third quarter, including changes to their shooters. NUS also made shorter passes, allowing them to retain possession of the ball. Even though NTU Centre Low Yi Lun, a National Under-21 player, was forced to sit out the game due to an injury in the quarter, her side still proved to be the superior team and they extended their lead to 40-23 by the end of the third quarter.

NTU made it impossible for NUS to mount a comeback in the last quarter as they dominated the full fifteen minutes, only allowing NUS to score five times while they booked their spot in the final, sealing the game 51-28.

“Maybe we psyched ourselves out. We gave our opponents too much credit,” reflected NUS captain Amanda Lai after the defeat. The NTU team boasts of national player Chen Hui Fen and U-21 players Rachel Tan, Low Yi Lun and Anna Soo.

“I think my team did very well today. We did what our coach wanted us to do and we worked through our previous performance,” shared NTU captain Anna Soo.

“Usually our defenders are a little unstable but today the delivery of the ball down the court was better and much more fluent. For the shooting side, I think our shooting percentage also improved,” Anna elaborated.

NTU will next face Temasek Polytechnic (TP) in the final on Monday, January 18. TP thrashed Singapore Management University 68-43 in the other semi-finals, and had defeated NTU 46-43 in the group stage.

When asked about the final against TP, Anna shared, “I would say it will be a very close game. TP will definitely put up a very good fight.”