Hydel Prep school sauntered to an easy defence of their Jamaica Independent Schools Association (JISA) Prep schools netball title with a 14-8 win over Quest Prep at Leila Robinson Courts on Thursday. It was the same school that Hydel defeated a year ago to land the title.

Both teams started nervously in the first quarter, struggling to find their range in the afternoon heat, and ended the period tied at 2-2.

But Hydel got over their nervousness in the second quarter to double their opponents 8-4 at half-time. Better use of the ball in midcourt and much more accuracy in shooting vaulted the champions to a 6-2 second-quarter advantage.

A clearly overwhelmed and vertically challenged Quest completely froze up in the third quarter, failing to register a single goal, while the champions were able to land five more to extend their lead to 13-4.

In a desperate effort not to be completely embarrassed, veteran Coach Doreen Chambers made some tactical adjustments in the fourth quarter which enabled Quest to have their best period of the final.

The former champions produced their best defensive and offensive performances of the contest, limiting Hydel to just one goal while scoring four of their own.

Winning Hydel Coach Lorraine Miller was overjoyed with the win.

“I am very elated and excited, retaining the title from last year. Words cannot explain how I feel right now; I am so happy. The girls trained hard throughout the season and they deserve it.”

The victorious coach revealed that her game plan had been carefully designed after several scouting missions throughput the season.

“I told my girls ‘all you have to do is go out there and win’. I have been watching that Quest team all season and I realise that they cannot play under pressure. So I told my girls ‘as long as you can mark very close, keep your passes compact and score goals, then we have nothing to worry about’,” Miller said.

She did admit to nerves being a factor at the start of the game.

“My girls were nervous at first — they came out tentative — but as the game progressed they started to come into their own and the passes started to come together.”

St Catherine Prep had to pull out all the stops against a spirited Alvernia Prep in the third-place game, edging the contest 12-11 in the curtain-raiser. That result meant that the top three schools from the opening day rally finished in the same order in the league.

— Dwayne Richards