DEFENDING champions The Queen’s School and St Andrew will meet in one semi-final of the 2013 ISSA/Digicel Urban Area High Schoolgirls Senior League netball encounter this afternoon at the Leila Robinson Courts, beginning at 4:00 pm.

The other Senior League semi-final will be between former many-time champions St Hugh’s and Holy Childhood, also scheduled to start at 4:00 pm.

Prior to the Senior League semis, the Junior League semi-finals will be played at 3:00 between defending champions The Queen’s School and Camperdown High, and Norman Manley High against Tarrant High.

Goal average was used to separate three teams from Group Two — Queen’s, St Hugh’s and St Catherine, who ended with the same number of points, including one loss each.

Holy Childhood were the winners of Group One with St Andrew finishing second, while St Hugh’s topped Group Two with champions The Queen’s second in the Senior League.

In the Junior League, Norman Manley were the winner of Group One ahead of second-placed Camperdown with The Queen’s winning Group Two ahead of Tarrant.

Meanwhile, the Senior League semi-finals will be a repeat of last year’s final between The Queen’s and St Andrew with the former coming out victorious. It will also be very interesting to see how they will approach each other.

The Marvette Anderson-coached aggregation are currently fancied to beat their opponents, especially through top shooters Shanice Beckford and Khadijah Williams, who have both represented Jamaica’s senior netball team recently.

Goalkeeper Shamera Sterling will have another tough job on her shoulders intercepting and blocking passes from her opposing players. She will need the support of goal defence Shalloy Walker to deny the shooters.

Paula Thompson, who has taken over the role as head coach of St Andrew High, will be hoping that her players can match their opponents and in the process pull off victory.

St Andrew have lost most of last year’s players and will find it very hard to get the better of champions Queen’s.

Meanwhile, St Hugh’s and Holy Childhood should have an evenly contested encounter. St Hugh’s will be relying on shooters Kadie-Ann Duhaney and Jennella Jones to carry them to victory.

However, the Roy Price-coached team will have to apply more pressure on the Delroy Johnson-coached Holy Childhood with players like Sasha-Lee Harris, Titanya Blackstock and Tanya Ricketts with centre court attacking plays.

In the Junior League semi-finals, defending champions Queen’s have been playing extremely well and have not lost a match all season. They are highly-favoured and should beat Camperdown who have lost only one game.

The Norman Manley and Tarrant semi-final clash promises to be an entertaining one, as Norman Manley have won all their matches in the second round, but should be tested by the Cecile Knight-coached Tarrant, who no doubt will be searching for a place in the final.