A back-and-forth contest at Pimpinio Recreation Reserve saw Kalkee’s visiting A Grade netball side emerge with a thrilling two-goal win on Saturday.

The Kees had impressed in their first two matches of the season, going down by a single score to reigning premier Laharum before beating Harrow-Balmoral by 22 goals, but faced an unexpected challenge against the plucky but winless Tigers.

The match went according to script in the first quarter as Kalkee led 14-9, but the home side flipped the game on its head with a 17-10 outburst in the second term to lead by two goals at the long break.

Goal defence Ada Binney’s size and rebounding ability came to the fore for the Tigers, helping to stymie the impact of Kalkee goalies Jenna Bywaters and Jarrah Martin.

With Annie Felini coming off the bench to serve as a conduit to attack for Pimpinio, Tiger goalies Jessica Tetley and Tilli Menzel, who replaced Janae Slorach at goal shooter in the second quarter, had no shortage of opportunities.

But the Kees struck back in the third quarter, with goal keeper Lotus Martin clamping down on Menzel while Bywaters was everywhere at goal attack, scoring seven times and setting up Martin with a series of slick passes. Pimpinio drew level at the outset of a tense final term but was never able to retake the lead, as Kalkee held on to win 48-46.

Another close clash took place at Quantong Recreation Reserve, where the visiting Edenhope-Apsley took down Noradjuha-Quantong 40-37.

A smothering defensive effort in the first term saw the Saints take an 11-6 lead, but the Bombers dug their heels in after half time, outscoring the visitors 13-8 in the third term to draw within four goals.

But the Bombers were never able to hit the front, with the leadership of captain Morgan Coventry and coach Lavinia Fox able to keep the Saints ahead.

Kaniva-Leeor United coach Kylie King was pleased with her team’s effort in its first win of the season – a 50-36 result against Taylors Lake.

While King said the Cougars had not performed in line with their expectations this season, losing their first three games, they had gotten themselves back on track at the weekend.

“We feel like it was a bit overdue. We probably didn’t have the start to the season we wanted and went in a little bit underprepared in the first couple of weeks,” she said.

“It feels like we’ve gotten to where we need to be at this stage of the season and it was nice to come away with a win. We didn’t really make any positional adjustments, we’ve just been working on refining our game a little bit at training.

“I just reinforced that we needed to make a stronger start than what we had the past few rounds and the team was able to come out and do it.”

Leading the way for the Cougars were Sophie and Ellen Bennett, with Sophie locking down Laker goal attack Harriet Overman in the first half before playing on coach Sharon Fedke in the second half.

Next for the Cougars is Laharum, which rode the momentum of a big second half against Swifts at the weekend to a 47-38 win.

“Laharum is an amazing side so we’ll just be going out to try to keep pace with them,” King said.

“I’ll be telling the team to keep working on what we’ve been building on so far, but it’s absolutely a big test.”

The round’s final game saw Rupanyup overpower Natimuk United 63-26, with defenders Lucy Bussenschutt and Holly Ross reigning supreme.

The Panthers will travel to play the Saints this weekend, while Kalkee hosts Swifts, Harrow-Balmoral returns from a bye to play Pimpinio and Taylors Lake is at home to Noradjuha-Quantong.

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