Holmwood, Excelsior off to winning start in AFNA

Holmwood Technical and Excelsior High School will be seeking their second consecutive victories in the Americas Federation of Netball Associations (AFNA) Champion of Champions High Schools Netball Tournament at the Leila Robinson Courts today.

The Carlene Graham-coached Holmwood, who are one of the favourites to win this year's title, will face Dominica State College (DMC) while Excelsior will face Springer Memorial from Barbados. Both matches are scheduled to start at 2 p.m.

In the day's other games set for 4 p.m., Anglican High of Grenada will oppose St Lucia's Soufriere, and Micoud of St Lucia will face Trinidad and Tobago's (T&T) Scarborough.

The Manchester-based Holmwood, who were runners-up to Excelsior in this year's National All-island competition, recorded an easy 35-23 victory over T&T's Christchurch Foundation yesterday.

Goalshooter Sasha-Gay Henry led the way for Holmwood with 30 goals from 49 attempts.

She received support from Aliah Lue, who netted four from four. Chiara Chase was the leading scorer for Christchurch with 11 goals from 20 tries.

Graham said yesterday's win has given her team a lot of confidence for the remainder of the competition.

"We are enjoying the tournament so far and we are happy that we won our first game. We are looking forward to reminder," said Graham.

"Having won our first game and we are coming back fresh for this game because we know that we have to put in the work and keep on doing what we are expected to do to ensure that we get another victory," Graham said.

Meanwhile, Excelsior recorded their first win of the tournament with a comfortable 40-26 victory over Anglican High from Grenada.

In the day's other game, Dominica State College recorded a close a 29-27 win over Micoud Secondary from St Lucia.