First round of finals sees Blue and Gold with a hint of Red.

What a day at Loftus for WAVL Semi Finals! Big crowds turned out to see the best in the competition battle it out for spots in the Finals in September. The flagship matches of the day were in Superleague 1, but the Superleague 3 men demanded attention with two exciting games.

In Superleague 1 Women, ECU Chequers sought to book a direct spot in the premiership match and made their case well known with a telling 25-21 win in their opening set against UWA. However it was the girls in gold who took it up a gear, taking the second set 25-14 and never looking back to take the match 3 sets to 1. In the 3v4 match, Rossmoyne and Balcatta also met for the second time in as many weeks with the Cats securing a convincing win 3-0; 25-16,25-19,25-17. Balcatta and ECU will meet in the preliminary final next week to decide who will face UWA in the final.

In the Men’s division, an incredible first set between Balcatta and UWA eventually saw the Cats go down 28-30, and this took its toll in the second set. After taking the second convincingly, UWA fought off another run by the Cats to secure the match in 3 sets and set up another chance for UWA to win both Superleague 1 divisions. Northern Stars Sl1 Men were pushed the full distance to avoid a repeat of their home round loss to Rossmoyne, eventually coming out on top in a nail-biting 15-12 fifth set to give the large Stars supporters’ group a win to remember. 

Elsewhere in the competition, Balcatta Superleague 3 Men stunned table-toppers Southern Cross with a 3-0 win and UWA very nearly caused a massive upset from fourth place, eventually losing to Northern Stars 15-12 in the fifth set. Northern Stars’ Superleague Reserve 1 Women went down to the wire against Southern Cross, also winning in five sets.

Bring on the prelim’s!

Teams of the week:

Balcatta Cats SL3 men

UWA SL1 Men

Honourable Mention:

UWA SL3 Men

Northern Stars 1 SLR Women

Please click here for full results.