WAULGROVIANS ‘A’ returned to winning ways with a narrow 48-46 victory over Tivoli ‘A’ as the 2009 Berger Paints Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) League continued at the Leila Robinson Courts on Sunday.

The win was their fourth from five games after their surprising four-goal (42-38) defeat at the hands of Tivoli ‘B’ last Thursday.

Waulgrovians, however, could not afford a second straight defeat as the Patrick Brissett-coached aggregation which had to work hard from as early as the first quarter, saw the scores level 12-12 at the break.

With only a few minutes gone in the second quarter, the officiating umpires stopped play and called both captains, Oberon Pitterson of Waulgrovians ‘A’ and Nicola Peart of Tivoli ‘A’, and warned about the rough plays being produced by both teams.

When play resumed, Waulgrovians looked brisk with their centre court attacks and passes.

With the combination of Simone Forbes at goal attack and Christina Solmon as goal-shooter, Waulgrovians quickly moved the score along to register 16-9 to go into half-time with an overall score of 28-21.

The third quarter saw Tivoli applying the pressure on Waulgrovians as they trailed by eleven goals 32-11 and needed to improve on their centre court plays if they hoped to contain their opponents.

Play took a surprising turn mid-way in the third quarter as Tivoli began finding their rhythm through Peter-Gaye Thompson, Tamara Hylton and Kemesha Sterling at centre court producing a number of accurate passes for shooters Nerissa Gibbs and Cleopatra Grant.

Tivoli did well to outscore their opponents 13-8 and in the process cut Waulgrovians lead to two goals (36-34).

With five minutes of play remaining, Waulgrovians had a slim 43-41 lead and had to defend strongly though captain Pitterson and Nichala Gibson as Tivoli produced a late burst and were gaining steadily on their opponents.

But it turned out to be a case of too little too late for Tivoli as Waulgrovians held on to win 48-46.

Leading the scoring for Waulgrovians were Forbes with 26 goals from 28 attempts and Solmon 22 from 28 tries, while Gibbs netted 24 from 28 and Grant 20 from 23 attempts for Tivoli.

Meanwhile, defending champions JAMALCO defeated WINDALCO 54-34 to chalk up their fourth straight win from as many starts.