On Sunday, Dubbo's State League netball side ended Orange's 18-year unbeaten run in the competition when they scored a thrilling 28-27 win over the record-breaking side in their own backyard.

The win capped an unbeaten start to the State League season for the Dubbo girls, who had earlier beaten Orange's second-string side, as well as Bathurst, Mudgee, Forbes and Lithgow.

But the win that mattered most was against Orange 1, and according to captain-coach Michelle Williams, it was worth the wait.

"Winning against Orange 1 has been our goal since the end of last season," Williams said. "This year's squad has been dedicated to training hard and improving their fitness with this goal in mind.

"All the players embraced this challenge and Sunday was the reward for our hard work.

"One of the things I noticed was that our fitness was up there with Orange and that's one area that has let us down in the past.

"To be able to run with them and probably run the game out better than them was pleasing."

The Dubbo side kick-started its day with a convincing 28-12 win over Orange 2, a result which pleased the group as they have been notoriously slow starters over the years

They continued their winning way with convincing victories over Bathurst and Mudgee but in their fourth game of the day were tested by Forbes.

Changes at half-time saw Dubbo power through the second half to claim a good win before they went on to beat Lithgow in their final match before they came up against Orange 1.

"Those games were great for us because we could use all the squad and get all our combinations firing," Williams said.

"We were able to combine our experienced campaigners with our young team members to play some great netball throughout the day.

"We have really good depth in our squad this year and the girls all did a great job across the whole day but we know when we go down there next time the other teams, especially Orange, are going to come hard at us."

Orange 1 started strongly on Sunday and built an early lead before the visitors settled into the game and slowly pegged back the lead, trailing by two at half time.

Williams stuck with her starting lineup of herself, Megan Liplyn, Kate Imrie, Grace Pilon, Natasha Watts-Tehiko, Emily Willmott and Jacinda Spicer but Orange was feeling the pressure and made a couple of player changes.

"When they were in front by seven early they were calm but when we pegged the score back and there was a bit of pressure on we probably handled that a bit better than them," Williams said.

"They haven't had pressure like that on them for so long and we could sense they were struggling a bit and capitalised, which was very pleasing.

"We've probably given some of the other sides in the competition a sense that they can beat them too, which is good because I think some teams didn't nominate this year thinking Orange would annihiliate everyone."

Early into the second half Dubbo erased the deficit and the game went goal for goal until the last two minutes, when Dubbo took a two-goal lead.

The intensity of the game drew a crowd from the other teams, and the Dubbo bench and supporters held their collective breath as the game drew to a close.

Cool heads from shooters Liplyn and Imrie, teamed with outstanding defence from Willmott and Spicer saw Dubbo run out winners by one goal.

The post games celebrations were akin to a grand final win, with veteran State League representative Caroline Dallinger shedding tears of joy at the historic win.

"I never cry," Dallinger said.

"But I swore I would cry if we won. I have been waiting years for this win and I couldn't be more proud of this bunch of girls."

Round two of the competition will be played in Orange on August 17.