LAST night’s action in the Victorian Netball League (VNL) saw not all the results pan out quite like most would have expected.

In a clash that was closer than anticipated, the North East Blaze prevailed over the Peninsula Waves 59-54 after surviving a late Waves’ fightback.

After much back and forth play, it took over a full minute for the Blaze to finally put the first score on the board.

They then pinched a goal off the next centre pass, before the Waves then pinched one off them to get their scoring underway and for the next several centre passes neither side managed to score off their own centre pass.

Eventually both sides were able to score off their own centre pass again, and crucially for the Blaze they were able to maintain the early lead they had built through the rest of the quarter.

The North East Blaze had managed to grow their lead to five goals by the time the first quarter concluded.

Both sets of defenders – Kaitlyn Black and Ruby Turner for the Blaze and Lyshae Barry and Gretta Hankinson for the Waves – were particularly impressive in the first term, heaping pressure on the shooters and making them work hard for every goal.

It was the Blaze who got the better start initially to the second quarter which saw them extend their lead even further, but slowly but surely the Waves worked their way back into the contest, and got within as much as three.

However the Blaze were quick to put a stop to that run and restore their lead to where it had been earlier in the period.

The Blaze went on to dominate the back half of the quarter and as the teams went off for the major break, the Blaze lead was back out to seven.

The third quarter belonged to the Blaze.

Last year’s semi finalists quickly got the margin up into double figures and kept it up there right through the term. The Waves were able to peg it back a little at various stages, but not by more than a few goals.

As the teams turned for home the margin sat at 11 in favour of the Blaze.

However, the Waves were certainly not going to die quietly.

They won the last quarter 17 goals to 11 and really fought back hard, but unfortunately were unable to fully run over the top of their more fancied opponents.

In other results, Boroondara won the battle of the undefeateds by downing Geelong by 11 goals, while Melbourne Uni got their first win of the season by trouncing Casey. City West got their second on the board with a win over the Hawks, while the Southern Saints comfortably beat the Ariels.

VICTORIAN NETBALL LEAGUE ROUND 3 RESULTS

Boroondara Express (56) defeated Geelong Cougars (45)
Melbourne University Lightning (73) defeated Casey Demons (42)
Hawks Netball (51) lost to City West Falcons (67)
North East Blaze (59) defeated Peninsula Waves (54)|
Wilson Storage Southern Saints (67) defeated Ariels (44)