Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

The Leila Robinson Courts will come alive today when defending champions and unbeaten Jamalco face Open League champions Tivoli in the feature game of the semi-finals of the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) Berger Paints Super League, starting at 5:45 p.m.

In the day's other semi-final, former champions Waulgrovians A tackle archrivals Windalco at 6:45 p.m.

Jamalco, who will be gunning for their fifth consecutive tittle, will be hard to beat as their statistics in this year's competition have shown that they are the league's leading goalscoring team with 529 goals and the best defensive team with only 240 scored against them.

Fifth consecutive title

Winston Nevers, coach of Jamalco, is confident that they will win their fifth consecutive title.

"I am very confident, but being confident I am not going to take them (Tivoli) lightly because I have learnt to respect every team in this competition," said Nevers whose team consists of a number of present and past national players.

"Tivoli is a good team. But I, the coach, am very confident and so are the players of Jamalco. I am expecting my team to go all way in this competition," said Nevers.

"We haven't lost any games throughout this season, so we will just have to come tomorrow (today) and play our usual standard of high-class netball and we will come out the winners.

"However, we are taking it one game at a time, because we know that we can't afford to get complacent at this time, because we know that the semi-finals is a knockout stage and once you lose you are out."

Jamalco will be relying heavily on likes of its national representatives, including goal shooter Romelda Aiken, goal attack Elaine Davis and centre court player Nadine Bryan, all of whom have played a pivotal roll in their team's success this season.

Tivoli, on the other hand, cannot be discounted as they are known as a big occasion team, and usually rise when it matters most.

Optimistic

Sylvester Campbell, Tivoli's coach, says he is very optimistic of his team's chances.

"I am expecting my team to win the game," said Campbell, who is also an International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) umpire.

"These teams are two of the top teams in theleague and any one can win on a given day, so we just have to come out tomorrow and play our top game," Campbell said.

Tight defence

Campbell added that they will have to keep their defence tight because (Jamalco) have been scoring pretty heavily throughout the competition, and if they can slow them down and then convert on their centre passes they will definitely win the game.

The west-Kingston based side will be led by likes of their inspirational goal shooter Cleopatra Grant, national player and goal defence Kasey Evering and wing defence Nicole Henry.