SS NETBALL CHAMPS: Gold and rose gold

This years the Scottish Student Netball Championships were held on Saturday 18th of February. The tournament is run over one day with teams playing in two pools in the morning, with to finals and play-offs in the afternoon. This year the tournament was held at the Alistair McCoist Complex in East Kilbride, and required a painfully early start for the girls.

This year Edinburgh entered their first and second teams into the competition. Due to injury and many of the twos being unavailable, the twos looked to the threes and fours to make up numbers. Lois Mackay, Rosina Costello and Louise Ferguson were pulled up from the threes along with Jess Menzies, Razann Al Ghussein and Emma Moreland from the fours. These six joined Scarlett Brown, Scarlet Wilkins, Polly Keeling and captain Megan McNair to make up the 'Twos'. Both Edinburgh teams went into the competition with great excitement and were determined to fight for the 5 points in every match.

The Edinburgh sides were placed in opposite pools, much to the relief of the 'twos' as they wouldn't have to play the 1s unless both teams made it to the final. Both teams played in the first matches of tournament, Edinburgh 1s took the win 16-4 over Napier, and 2s managed to steal a win 18-10 after a shaky start against St Andrews 2s.

In their second match of the day, Kate Meagh was swapped out to Goal Attack, but the 1s still managed to 14-5 against Glasgow 1s ;) Meanwhile on court 2 the 'twos' took their second win 15-8 against Strathclyde 1s. Soon after the Edinburgh sides were back on court again. Edinburgh 2s faced Dundee 1s, and won 19-10. Edinburgh 1s faces St Andrews and won 18-12.

Both teams went on to secure another 5 points each, in their fourth match of the day. Edinburgh 1s met St Andrews 3s and won 19-5. On the other side Edinburgh 'twos' Won 13-7 against Dundee 3s.

In their final matches of the round robin, Edinburgh 2s faced Glasgow 2s 16-9, while Edinburgh 1s faced Abertay 1s and won 21-5. Both teams won all five of their matches in their pools they faced second place from the other pool in the semi final. For Edinburgh 1s this meant playing Glasgow 3s, where they won 27-4. Next up was the 'twos' against St Andrews 1s. This was a very tense semi-final and the 'twos' went into the match nervous but ready to give it their all. The previous two times Edinburgh 2s have met St Andrews 1s this season saints have managed to sneak the win in the final quarter. Some cracking interceptions from Polly Keeling and Scarlett Brown, but it was saints who won 18-10 and would go on to meet Edinburgh 1s in the final. Edinburgh 'twos' then faced Glasgow 3s in the play off for 3rd place and won 22-7. The team was very happy to place third in the competition as the standard of netball was very high.

Edinburgh 1s faced a determined St Andrews side in the final. Edinburgh were up 18-8 at half time. Saints fought hard and pulled this back to within 3 goals, with just 5 minutes remaining on the clock it was getting a bit close for comfort. Edinburgh bucked up their ideas and played their own game pulling away again to take the victory, 25-19. Edinburgh were ecstatic to win the championship for the fifth consecutive year. The atmosphere throughout the whole day was fantastic and the club would like to thank Karen McKellar and volunteers for their hard work in running and organising the event. See you next year!

Edinburgh 2s medal presentation. Photographed: Razann Al Ghussein, Emma Moreland, Polly Keeling, Jessica Menzies, Scarlett Brown, Scarlet Wilkins, Louise Ferguson, Lois Mackay, Rosina Costello and Meg McNair (Captain) #RoseGold

Edinburgh 1s medal presentation. Photographed: Back row - Eilidh Reid, Ruby Wilkinson, Kate Meagh, Chloe Logan, Meg Adams, Clare White, Clare Tuohy, Emily Nicholl (Captain) , Iona Holmes and Rosie Oakley Slater