May 17th 2012 - League Finals

Shu Sha Tel Aviv vs. Jerusalem Mercaz

Yes, I was right, we definitely saw some fabulous netball at this season's league finals!

The very evenly-matched Shu Sha Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Mercaz teams really showed their mettle during this game. Shu Sha Tel Aviv took an early lead in the first and second quarters with scores of 9-6 and 20-15 respectively. But Jerusalem Mercaz was not giving up without a fight and they closed the gap very successfully in the third quarter and were only a goal down (25-26). The last quarter was wonderfully exciting and when the final whistle blew the scoreboard showed a draw (34-34), only the second draw we've seen throughout three league seasons!

The tension was palpable for every second of the five minutes of extra time, and the bronze medal could easily have gone to either team. But the shouts of delight from the Shu Sha Tel Aviv team at the final, final whistle were clear indication that yes they'd done it, they'd won by 37-36!

 
Ma'aleh Adumim vs Ra'anana

Having beaten Ra'anana both times in the early rounds of the season, Ma'aleh Adumim were clear favourites to take the gold medal from the winners of the last two seasons. Somewhat unexpectedly though, in the first half of the match, Ra'anana were the better players and were ahead by 11-8 at the end of the first quarter and by 18-17 at the end of the second. However, Ra'anana were unable to keep up that momentum in the second half when Ma'aleh Adumim played amazingly well and easily took over, scoring 9 goals to Ra'anana's 4 in the third quarter (26-22) and 7 goals to their opponents' 3 in the final quarter to win the match by 33-25.

At the medals ceremony, awards were presented to:

Most Improved Player: Nomi Komar

Sportsmanship: Brenda Benaim

Most Valued Player: Chani Komar

May 3rd 2012 - Playoffs

Ra'anana vs. Shu Sha Tel Aviv

In this season's playoffs the fierce fight for the top three places was intense. Shu Sha Tel Aviv, who has impressed everyone with their improved play throughout the season, had a serious chance of beating Ra'anana to make it to the finals. Their determination showed particularly in the first half of the match when they fought hard to reach scores of 10-8 in the first quarter and 18-15 in the second. However the Ra'anana team was no less determined and at the end of the third quarter Tel Aviv still had only a 2-goal lead (26-24). The final quarter was a real thriller with the lead going first one way and then the other, and for several long minutes a draw was a very real possibility. In the end the greater match experience of the Ra'anana players gave them the win, but there was only a one-goal difference: 32-31.


Jerusalem Mercaz vs. Modi'in

Jerusalem Mercaz has introduced a number of talented younger players this season and the integration with the older players has proved to be very successful. Who could fail to be impressed by the fabulous Komar mother-daughter combination in the shooting circle?

Throughout the match the spectators were treated to some very fine netball by both teams but there was no doubt that Jerusalem Mercaz had the edge; they took and held the lead against the Modi'in ladies from the outset. The scores for the four quarters were: 9-8, 18-14, 28-22, 34-29.

Ra'anana will go on to play Ma'aleh Adumim in the finals, and the somewhat disappointed Shu Sha Tel Aviv team will fight for the bronze medal against the delighted Jerusalem Mercaz players. We will definitely be seeing some amazing netball on May 17th!

March 26th 2012

Ma'aleh Adumim vs. Ra'anana

First of all congrats to Ma'aleh Adumim for getting a free pass into the finals!

Ra'anana did not put on a good showing in their second match this season against their arch-rivals - the team simply did not gel. It's true that several of their key players were not available but Ma'aleh Adumim had no extra players on the bench and played with the same seven players - including five national team members - throughout.

Ma'aleh Adumim took an early lead of two goals in the first quarter (8-6) and could do nothing wrong in the second, forging ahead to a score of 20-9. Ra'anana fared a little better in the third quarter when they scored 7 goals to their opponents' 6. But in the final quarter, Ma'aleh Adumim just kept on increasing their lead and Ra'anana was hard-pressed to achieve their single point for scoring just half of J-town's total score (42-21).

Shu Sha Tel Aviv vs. Modi'in

Shu Sha Tel Aviv at last got their wish to host league matches on their new home turf! To the delight of their audience of friends and relatives, they scored the first three goals in the low-scoring first quarter which helped them to a lead of 4-2. They kept up the momentum into the second and third quarters (14-10 and 25-18) even though Modi'in substantially improved their shooting accuracy.

In the final quarter Modi'in really showed what they are capable of and outscored the home team by 10 goals to 6 although that was not sufficient to snatch Shu Sha Tel Aviv's extremely well-deserved victory from them; the final score was 31-28.

This means that the Tel Aviv ladies will face Ra'anana in the playoffs to be held at the beginning of May and they have a very real chance of reaching the finals against Ma'aleh Adumim...

 
March 15th 2012

Shua Sha Tel Aviv vs. Jerusalem Mercaz

The oldest and the newest clubs faced each other again in yet another exciting match during which it was very difficult to predict the outcome from beginning to end! Shu Sha Tel Aviv were one goal ahead at the end of the first quarter by 8-7, but Jerusalem overtook them in the second when they led by 14-13. Both teams scored eight goals in the third quarter and in the last quarter all eyes kept turning to the score and time. In the end, the Jerusalem ladies made up for their previous defeat against the Tel Avivians winning the match by 28-26.

Ra'anana vs. Modi'in

The title for this match has to be "Fighting Fit at Fifty"! Ra'anana's Carol Levin, who celebrated her birthday last week, can still show our younger players a thing or two! Helped by her daughter Michal in the circle and by Tali Golan and Devorah Bergman playing Centre and Wing Attack respectively, the Ra'anana team easily took the lead in the first quarter (11-5). Modi'in made up some ground in the second quarter scoring 6 goals to Ra'anana's 5, but despite Jodi Carreira's accurate shooting, they could not beat their opponents who increased their lead in the third quarter (25-18), and went on to win by 35-20.

March 1st 2012

Modi'in vs. Jerusalem Mercaz

Modi'in led easily in the first quarter by 11-4, but the Jerusalem team with their mix of young and veteran players pulled back very well in the second (15-20) and third quarters (28-30). Modi'in came back strongly in the last quarter, and went on to win by 38-34.

Shu Sha Tel Aviv vs. Ma'aleh Adumim

Obviously we expect our national team players to play at a very high level whenever they take to the court, and Ma'aleh Adumim's defence players Nadia Brenner and Alexi Shapiro, who complemented each other very well in the circle, did just that; likewise Shu Sha Tel Aviv's centre Jen Curtis who is always a delight to watch. Elizabeth Richards, however, is a relative newcomer to our game but as goalkeeper she gave the current leaders some worrying moments with a good number of very impressive intercepts.

The first half definitely belonged to Ma'aleh Adumim and they were up by 19-13 at half-time. Shu Sha Tel Aviv were absolutely brilliant in the second half, outscoring their opponents in the third quarter by 9 goals to 5, and were even ahead of them a couple of times in the last quarter. But the more experienced Ma'aleh Adumim players still managed to win the match by 31-29.

With such a consistently high level of play, the league standings are looking very interesting with only four matches remaining before the playoffs: Ma'aleh Adumim, with 7 games played, are head of the table with 32 points, and Ra'anana is currently in second place with 26 points after 6 games. Modi'in and Shu Sha Tel Aviv take joint third place with 16 points each, but Jerusalem is only 4 points behind them so it's anyone's guess who are going to be this season's medal winners...

February 19th 2012

Jerusalem Mercaz vs. Ra'anana

Those of us who were at the make-up match between Jerusalem Mercaz and Ra’anana (as a result of the “lights out” story at the beginning of the season) were treated to a wonderful display of exciting netball on Sunday night! Throughout all four quarters both teams were either a couple of goals up or a couple of goals down.

Jerusalem played consistently well, scoring seven goals in the first quarter and eight in all the others, while the Ra’anana team was a little more erratic. The score at the end of the first quarter was 7 all, after Ra’anana had been ahead by 6-2 at one point. At half-time, Ra’anana was down by 2 goals (13-15), and was still down but by only one goal at the end of the third quarter (22-23).

The final quarter was anyone's game, but last year's gold medalists did not win the league through lack of determination! They fought with all they had and were rewarded with a win when they scored the last three goals of the match. The close score of 31-33 earned the Jerusalem players two very well-deserved points in the league standings.

February 16th 2012

Shu Sha Tel Aviv vs. Ra'anana

Shu Sha Tel Aviv fought well against Ra'anana considering that three of their league players were not available for this match. But they could not match their black-shirted rivals who out-scored them throughout the match especially in the last quarter when Ra'anana scored 11 goals to Tel Aviv's 4. The scores for the quarters were: 6-3, 12-8, 14-20 and finally 31-18.

Jerusalem Mercaz vs. Ma'aleh Adumim

Jerusalem was looking very good against the league leaders in the first quarter when they scored 5 goals to Ma'aleh Adumim's 7, but they were down by 11-19 at the end of the second. In the very high-scoring second half - a total of 45 goals! - the Jerusalem Mercaz team scored one more goal than their very skilled rivals, but that was not sufficient to beat them. When the final whistle blew, the scoreboard showed 34-41.

February 2nd 2012

Ma'aleh Adumim vs. Modi'in

This was a very closely fought match particularly in the first half, when Ma'aleh Adumim were up by only one goal at the end of the first quarter (7-6) and again at the end of the first half (15-14). In the third quarter the season's current leaders increased their lead by scoring 11 goals to Modi'in's 6. However, the home team put up a tremendous fight in the last quarter and there were a couple of tense moments when it seemed that they might overtake their rivals or at least draw with them. But it was not to be: Ma'aleh Adumim kept up the pressure and the scoreboard showed 32-29 at the final whistle.

Ra'anana vs. Jerusalem Mercaz

Funnily enough a similar situation occurred in the second match. Ra'anana found it difficult to overcome Jerusalem's tall defence and were up by only one goal at the end of the first quarter (5-4), and by two goals at half-time (12-10). Brenda Benaim's great defence prevented the Jerusalem players from scoring more than three goals in the third quarter which ended with a score of 18-13. The wonderful Komar mother-and-daughter combination in Jerusalem's shooting circle enabled them to close the gap in the final quarter and they also lost by only three goals (20-17).

January 5th 2012

Ra'anana vs. Ma'aleh Adumim

Starting off the match against their closest rivals Ra'anana with a lead of 8-5 at the end of the first quarter, Ma'aleh Adumim played very skillfully and continued to hold the lead throughout. Ra'anana was down by 9 goals to 15 at half-time although they rallied well in the third quarter to bring the score to 17-20.

A final score of 29-20 to Ma'aleh Adumim makes them the current leaders in the standings at the end of the first round of this season.

Modi'in vs. Shu Sha Tel Aviv

The second match of the evening was very closely fought and although Modi'in was five goals down at the end of the first quarter (2-7), they managed to outscore Shu Sha Tel Aviv in the second quarter (6-10). In the third quarter, Modi'in played even better and brought the score to an impressive 15 all. However, the Tel Aviv players did not let up and with their exceptional play and Lauren Isaacs' great shooting, went on to their second win this season, beating the home team by 23-19.

December 22nd 2011

Shu Sha Tel Aviv vs. Jerusalem Mercaz

Yes, they did it! Shu Sha Tel Aviv played brilliantly against Jerusalem Mercaz and were deservedly rewarded with their first league win!

Unfortunately some of Jerusalem's key players could not make the match and their overall play was not up to their usual level. Tel Aviv of course took advantage of this fact and from the first to the last whistle there was no doubt who was going to win, the only question was by how many goals.

These were the scores at the end of each quarter: 9-0, 16-3, 25-9 and finally 37-13. My vote for the match's star player is Tel Aviv's Jen Curtis playing Centre.

Ra'anana vs. Modi'in

This was definitely Ra'anana's finest performance since the beginning of the season! Although Modi'in - like Jerusalem - was also missing several key players, they put up a valiant fight against their black-shirted rivals. But despite some excellent individual play they could not match the skills of the Ra'anana team and were outplayed throughout the game. The final score was 36-11.

Newcomers to the Ra'anana squad, teenagers Yael Chitiz, Shira Block and Tali Kur all deserve special mention for their outstanding play.

December 8th 2011

First of all, welcome back Jodi after your prolonged absence - we missed you!

Following tonight's wonderful display of netball, Israel Netball is seriously considering adopting the World Netball Series slogan "Netball Just Got Hotter" as our own!

Modi'in vs. Jerusalem Mercaz

Although the two teams were very evenly matched, Modi'in were one goal up at the end of the first quarter (5-4) and three goals up at half-time (11-9). In a very close second half, Modi'in were still ahead by one goal at the end of the third quarter (18-17). However, in a nail-biting final quarter when both teams kept on scoring, Jerusalem managed to gain the advantage over the home team and went on to win by 28-26.

Ma'aleh Adumim vs. Shu Sha Tel Aviv

Shu Sha Tel Aviv put up a very brave fight against last season's silver medal winners, scoring four goals to Ma'aleh Adumim's seven in the first quarter. They even out-scored them in the second quarter to bring the score to 12-14. Ultimately however Tel Aviv could not overcome their opponent's better play, particularly Nadia's fabulous defence.

At the final whistle, the scoreboard showed 31-17, giving Ma'aleh Adumim their second win of the season.

November 24th 2011

As hoped, tonight's matches were played on the new indoor court in Modi'in. Although the court has not yet been professionally marked, our wonderful volunteers used sticky tape to prepare the court in record time and we were ready for the first match at our new venue.

Tel Aviv vs. Ra'anana

As predicted at the end of the last season, Tel Aviv gave the gold-medal holders a very hard time! The teams only managed to score 4 goals each in the first quarter. Ra'anana struggled to edge forward slightly by half-time, with Tel Aviv's newcomer Lisa Paneth preventing the ball from reaching the Ra'anana shooters numerous times. In fact throughout the game the score was very close, but thanks to the great shooting skills of Carol Levin and Gilah Cohen, and some wonderful centre court play by Devorah Bergman and Yael Chitiz, at the final whistle the scoreboard showed 16-15 to the great relief of the Ra'anana team!

Jerusalem Mercaz vs. Ma' aleh Adumim

There were no surprises in the match between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem Mercaz - Ma'aleh Adumim easily outplayed their opponents to win by 27-12.

New players to watch this season on the Jerusalem team: Efrat Ozeri and Reut Itzkovich, and of course the amazing mother-daughter shooting combination Susie and Nomi Komar.


November 10th 2011

What an exciting way to start to the season! The first match between Ma'aleh Adumim and Modi'in was a real cliffhanger. With only 6 goals scored in the first quarter (2 by Modi'in and 4 by Ma'aleh Adumim) it was obvious that last year's silver medal winners were in for a real fight. In the second quarter, each team scored four goals, and in the third quarter the Ma'aleh Adumim ladies managed to increase their 2-goal lead by one. But the Modi'in team, who had been beaten twice last season by these rivals, did not disappoint and in the last quarter managed to outscore M-A by 12 goals to their opponents' seven, bringing the final score to 26-24.

Playing in the league for the first time, three new teenage netballers joined last season's winners in their match against Jerusalem Mercaz. This was also a closely fought game with scores of 8-5 and 15-11 to Ra'anana in the first two quarters. Ra'anana's disappointing play in the third quarter allowed the Jerusalem squad to draw ahead scoring 8 goals to Ra'anana's 3. Determined not to lose, Ra'anana regained the lead in the last quarter and the scoreboard showed 26-23 with four and a half minutes remaining when, to everyone's dismay, the lights went out! A decision of how to resolve this issue will be taken shortly, with a rematch likely.

With the contract for our new venue in Modi'in already signed, we expect all future league matches to be played indoors so that the light problem should not recur!