RIVOLI United ‘A’ produced the first upset of the netball season when they defeated Mico ‘A’ 23-18 as the 2013/2014 Netball Jamaica/Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) Sunshine Open League competition continued at the Leila Robinson Courts last Tuesday evening.

It was a good win for the Milton Morrison-coached Spanish Town-based team, as they dominated Mico ‘A’, a former Super League club that did well last season. The win was Rivoli ‘A’, fourth from as many starts took them to the top of Group 5.

The performance of Rivoli’s shooters Stacy-Ann Allen and Ekelia Henry and their accurate passes from their centre court teammates pushed them towards victory despite trailing 10-12 at half-time. Rivoli ‘A’ rallied strongly in the second half before levelling the scores at 14-14 and then took over the lead as they rushed to 17-14, while Mico had problems scoring the chances.

Mico’s shooters received the scoring opportunities to put them on even terms with their opponents, but failed to put the ball inside the hoop. The failure to score goals allowed Rivoli to capitalise on these mistakes to come away with a 23-18 win.

Morrison said he was very happy for the victory over Mico ‘A’. “The players played very hard for this victory and we are very proud of this win. It wasn’t an easy match as Mico ‘A’ are one of the strongest teams in the competition and they should still be in contention for one of the top two places in Group 5 to make it to the quarter-finals,” Morrison said.

Naskeya Clarke, captain of Mico ‘A’ said the Rivoli defeat was bad and mistakes made had to be corrected. “We will be going back to the drawing board and work out the errors we created and I know that we will be back on our winning ways,” Clarke said. She noted that the team has lost a number of their players to other clubs and those who have been selected to play in the semi-professional league. “We will have to try and build another team and this is what we are doing right now.”