The Mid Canterbury Under 17 Netball side that finished 28th at the recent Netball NZ Under 17 Championships. Back row: Ella Hurley (from left), Kate Brady, Emma McDowell, Sophie Beveridge, Hannah McDougall and Natasha Drummond. Front row: Samantha Holden, Vicki Pluck, Meg McIntyre and Natasha Waddell. Photo suppliedMid Canterbury’s under 17 netballers have come away from the Netball NZ Under 17 Championships with a sense of déjà vu.

The side finished 28th out of 38 sides at the four day tournament held in Pukekohe, the same position they finished last year.

Coach Sarah Lassen said it was a good solid tournament for the team, with the superior height of the opposition often creating challenges for the team.

“We wanted to finish with the same result if not better and we did that so we achieved our goal,” she said.

“We played very nicely and cleanly and really showed our sportsmanship.”

Mid Canterbury opened pool play against the Hawke’s Bay, falling 59-26.

They looked to get things back on track when they took out a 39-33 win against Rotorua.

However, this would be their only win in the pool stage, with heavy losses against Whangarei and North Harbour 1 coming on day two.

This meant the side dropped in to the second bracket for knockout play, playing against Trust Waikato Hamilton City B, losing 47-27.

In the afternoon of day three, Mid Canterbury picked up their second win of the tournament, this time against Kapi Mana 33-28.

This win guaranteed the side a place somewhere between 25th and 28th, and left them needing to beat Nelson if they were going to take out one of the top two spots.

However, Nelson proved to be too good on the day, winning 49-30.

This left Mid Canterbury facing Gisborne for 27th or 28th.

Eight points separated the sides at the final whistle, with Gisborne taking the win 44-36.

By Jaime Pitt-MacKay © The Ashburton Guardian - 20 July 2017