THE City West Falcons are the first team through to the VNL Championship Grand Final after a 77-54 win over Boroondara Express in last night’s major semi-final.

Although things started off tight between the sides, when the Falcons made some key positional changes in defence and attack they saw things swing in their favour, and they ultimately ran away with the match.

The Express were the ones to jump out to the early lead after capitalising on some uncharacteristic errors from the Falcons. But like the true class side they are, the Falcons did not take too long to level proceedings back up again.

Although momentum swung several times in the opening term, it felt as though the Express still had the upper hand. Isabelle Hodgson was shooting incredibly well, while Sarah Szczykulski and Ruby Pekin Schlicht were defending really well, disrupting the flow into the Falcons’ shooters. However, when the Falcons did steady they were able to find Jane Cook much easier, who really used her height to her advantage.

The sides both did steady in the final part of the quarter, but those key positional changes ultimately saw the Falcons finally take the lead in the dying passages of the term. City West ultimately took a one-goal lead into the first change.

The match remained really tight to start the second term, but the Falcons’ natural gamestyle was starting to flow. The introduction of Melissa Oloamanu freed up Sophie Hanrahan to go for more flying intercepts, while bringing Uneeq Palavi onto court meant that the dominant usual shooting partnership for the Falcons was back.

As a result, the defending champions started to build a big lead. That lead quickly blew out to double figures, and ultimately sat at 13 goals at the main break. That second quarter was ultimately the turning point for the Falcons, as the Express kept slipping further and further behind, unable to make up any ground on the deficit.

In the other semi-final the Hawks defeated North East Blaze 54-47 to set up a date with the Express in next week’s preliminary final. The margin remained at roughly the final seven goals for much of the match as the Blaze could not overcome a slower first quarter to get the job.