Following several lean years, Mount Albert Grammar School have climbed back to the top after securing a gripping 34-32 win over Howick College in the final of the NZ Secondary Schools Netball Champs in Porirua on Friday.
With a strong tradition in the popular event, Mt Albert soared from 15th when anchoring the bottom of the table at last year鈥檚 tournament to top of the pole in 2025 after last winning the title in 2018. During a golden era for the school Mt Albert won four straight titles between 2012 and 2015.
Befitting a final, the two Auckland schools produced the worthiest of contests between the two best teams of the tournament with the outcome remaining in the balance until the final whistle.
For schoolgirls coming into their seventh game in four days, the standard remained at the highest of levels between the pair. The impressive array of skills, court craft and intensity prevailed throughout as the pair went toe-to-toe in the most compelling of contests.
"We鈥檙e over the moon, it鈥檚 25 years this year that girls have been at Mount Albert Grammar, so it鈥檚 so appropriate that a historical netball powerhouse has won the championship this year. We鈥檙e so pleased for the school,鈥欌�� Mount Albert Grammar School coach Waana Araroa said.
"We have been building since Tuesday. We had a lesson and we learnt well from that lesson, we adjusted and we built. I think we had momentum this time, we鈥檝e met Howick three times before and not finished the job. This time our girls were ready and they showed it.
"We are so proud to now be part of Mount Albert Grammar鈥檚 legacy. We come from a rich history of netball at this school. These girls and their families will be rapt to be a part of that.鈥欌��
Respective goal shoots, Mali Toleafoa, for Mt Albert Grammar, and Howick鈥檚 Sierra Lau鈥檈se were dominant figures through the entirety of the match, both sides clean and crisp through-court with their delivery to the key targets.
Both showed almost immaculate accuracy with neither side able to dismantle the other as the sides traded goals for much of the contest, the first quarter ending in an 8-8 stalemate.
It was a similar trend on the resumption with play-making goal attack Zermahnia Manu helping Howick gain the slightest of edges before lively Mount Albert Grammar goalkeeper Tupou Kautai pocketed two timely intercepts to leave the scores tied up at 15-all at halftime.
The accuracy of the shooting targets at both ends didn鈥檛 falter as the match remained on a knife-edge. It was Mount Albert Grammar who had the slimmest of margins when nudging into a 25-23 at the last turn.
It remained anyone鈥檚 game when Howick levelled the scores early in the fourth quarter and with everything on the line, the pressure mounted with two crucial moments late in the piece proving the difference.
The Howick goal defence was stood down for two minutes with four minutes of the match remaining while a Howick dropped ball in the midcourt gave Mount Albert Grammar the necessary impetus to clinch the spoils after a drawn final quarter.
Following an opening day drawn match in pool play, Mount Albert Grammar completed an unbeaten campaign while the plucky Howick College came agonisingly close to successfully defending their title-winning exploits of last year.
Impressing throughout the tournament, Westlake Girls High School (Auckland) and Trident High School (Whakatane) delivered a similarly close contest in the play-off for third.
Trailing by one at the first break, Trident High School came back to take a 16-14 lead into halftime. Westlake closed to within one at three-quarter time before producing a strong final quarter and with it a 33-30 win to seal third spot.