Rising star: Rochester’s Teal Hocking while playing for the Tigers in the GVL A-grade competition. She was part of the Victorian team that finished fourth at the national under-19 titles. Photo: Megan Fisher
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Megan Fisher
Rochester netballer Teal Hocking and the Victorian under-19 team have missed out on a medal at the national championships in Darwin by one goal.
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The Vics lost the bronze medal play-off match to NSW 37-36.
Victoria finished fourth at the end of the tournament, with four wins and three defeats.
South Australia and West Australia topped the table with seven and six wins respectively, with Victoria’s 4-3 record matched by NSW and Queensland.
Victoria lost three games in the seven qualifying rounds by less than 10 goals to finish the preliminary rounds in third position, winning its four games by an average of 15 goals.
Hocking and the Vics won the opening game of the tournament handsomely, but then lost three games straight before ending the preliminary rounds by winning three successive games.
Hocking started as an interchange player in most games, but finished with 14 goals from her 17 attempts for the tournament.
She was used as the fourth-string Victorian goaler during the nine-game tournament.
Victoria won every game in which Hocking spent time in goals, which ended up being three of the nine for the week-long tournament.
In the loss to eventual champion South Australia in round two, Hocking started on court at wing attack as Victoria led by a goal at quarter-time and then trailed by just one goal at the final change.
The thrilling conclusion to the match saw South Australia eventually win by two, 40-38.
The Vics were similarly competitive against the other leading team of the competition, trailing Western Australia by just two shots at three-quarter time before losing by just three.
Hocking started as an interchange player in that match.
Victoria lost by four to Queensland and scored a seven-goal win against NSW when Hocking started at wing attack in a game where the Vics led from start to finish.
When Victoria and NSW met again in the second round of the finals, Victoria led by three goals at the final change, but was outscored 10-6 in the last term to lose by one.
Hocking’s best game in goals came in the opening round match against Northern Territory when she never missed in collecting six goals in Victoria’s 30-goal win.
National titles: Teal Hocking (front, second from left) and her Victorian under-19 squad contested the national titles in Darwin last week. The Vics lost the bronze medal play-off match by one goal to NSW. Photo: Netball Victoria
During the round seven match against ACT, she shot five goals from six attempts and in her only other scoring match she converted three of her five shots against Tasmania.
Victoria won the game against Tasmania by 22 goals and beat ACT by 12 goals in the other match where Hocking spent time in the goaling circle.
Hocking, who also plays midweek in the Victorian Netball League with City West Falcons, has missed the opening two rounds of the Goulburn Valley League’s A-grade netball season.
The Tigerettes will be strengthened significantly by her return this week.
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