Mermaids face Rebels in city netball playoff

By MARTHA DERUAGE
NATIONAL representative Rayleen Andrew will play alongside sisters Isabell and Waisa for Snax Mermaids against City Pharmacy Rebels in the Port Moresby Netball Association preliminary final tomorrow.
Assistant coach Richanda Kassman said the club were fortunate to have the Andrew sisters, daughters of former international player Kiri Francis.
“It’s good to have the girls carrying on their mother’s legacy, big sister Rayleen is already an international player and the younger sisters are already playing in a premier team,” Kassman said.
Rayleen will be at the shooting end, Isabell is on the defence while the youngest, Waisa, 14, will be in midcourt.
Kassman said the team were aiming to maintain their intensity and execute their game plan instead of focusing on their opposition. “We do not want to change much, so we have our usual shooters Rayleen and Jeperth Tulapi.”
On the defence Mermaids have Tau Galewa and Isabel Raokeina who will be expected to put pressure on Rebels veteran Lua Rikis.
In the midcourt they will rely on Kila Leka and Waisa Andrew to get them enough ball to make shots.
“We are looking forward to taking Rebels and hopefully our game plan will see us through,” Kassman added.
In the pre-finals fixtures, Sparrows proved too strong beating Rebels 49-43 on Tuesday.
Mermaids, on the other hand, beat Telstars 50-47 last week.
“I would like thank our sponsors, the Lae Biscuit Company for sponsoring us, without your support we would not have made it this far,” Kassman said.
CP Rebels coach Oti Lasagavibau said limiting their errors and pushing hard on defence would be the keys to victory for them as they look to come back after going down to Sparrows. Rebels have Former Pepes Winnie Mavara in the midcourt and on the defence Susan Wellington and Serena Ovio. The winner of this do-or-die match will face Sparrows in the grand final.