Kearsney celebrates double win against Westville
The water polo, especially, was a great win as Westville Boys' High School was definitely the more fancied team.
KEARSNEY College played Westville Boys’ High School at the weekend, winning both the water polo and basketball fixtures.
Fielding stayers only, Kearsney and Westville 1st water polo teams met in their final match of the season; with Kearsney ending on a satisfying 5-4 win against their much-fancied rivals.
Kearsney started strongly, forcing Westville into mistakes, and their attack was firing, with Olly Kenny setting up a number of opportunities. Ox Carmody showed great composure in the hole and was on hand to finish twice, putting Kearsney into a 3-1 lead in the 1st chukka.
The 2nd chukka was more of the same with Kearsney captain Taine Buys scoring a goal and being excellent on defence. Similarly, vice-captain Nick Baines was a constant menace on attack and robbed the ball a number of times on defence.
Starting the 3rd chukka 4-1 down, Westville then showed why they are such a highly-rated side with a patient attack resulting in two unanswered goals from the hole. The pressure was back on Kearsney who were struggling to maintain a high-octane defence and attack with only nine players.
However, a confident Carmody transferred his composure to the defence and closed down the Westville hole men. Kearsney then responded with a breakaway goal by Josh Muller to lead 5-3.
The 4th chukka was again a fairly laboured affair with both teams battling to gain ascendancy.
Westville were the more patient of the teams, and Kearsney regularly squandered possession.
Kearsney’s defense held strong – especially Tyler Roake in goals – and Westville only managed a consolation goal at the end, to finish the game 5-4 in Kearsney’s favour. It was a satisfying win for Kearsney and completed a run of five out of six wins at the end of the season.
Basketball
Kearsney’s Stayers 1st team traveled to Westville on Friday to complete the final fixture of the season.
The team looked like the walking wounded after a long and arduous season, but all the players were committed to finish the season unbeaten – something that the last few Stayers’ teams have failed to do, stumbling on the final hurdle each time.
The game started with Westville scoring their first two shots, while Kearsney missed their first six.
It was looking as though the unbeaten dream was unravelling fast. Kearsney, however, began to find their shooting rhythm and picked up the defensive pressure, managing to go ahead on the score board 12-7 at the end of the first quarter.
Kearsney never looked back from that point on and even managed to extend their lead by 13 at half time (38-25).
As hard as Westville played, they never came within 10 points of Kearsney’s score. Kearsney finished with a convincing 69-54 win. In what was a very physical encounter the superior fitness, defence and good free throw shooting carried them to the victory.
Kearsney should be commended for the manner in which they have played this season. They have struggled in some matches but have always found a way to win, having won 13 out of 13 matches.
Cricket
The 1st X1 match was washed out due to the weather.
