DUBBO College Senior Campus has achieved something that for so long has seemed impossible - defeating Orange High School in netball.
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Orange had for so long reigned supreme as Western Combined High Schools (CHS) champions but on Wednesday Dubbo defeated the heavyweights in a thrilling final.
Played at Orange PCYC, Dubbo Senior Campus produced some clinical finishing as they ran out 45-37 victors to qualify for the NSW CHS netball knockout and test their skills against the other best 15 sides in the state.
"We're trying to figure out when the last time Orange High didn't make it was," Western region netball convener Amanda Hurford said.
"Dubbo's coach Rebecca May was just so ecstatic after the game, it really was a massive milestone for them."
May was delighted with her side's performance as they maintained a composed performance in both the semi-final, a 48-29 win over West Wyalong, and also the final.
"Orange have always been the team difficult to beat or even get close to and we've always met them in the semi-finals so we had not made a final before," she said.
"They (the Dubbo team) were very excited to make the final because they hadn't done it before but after such a cool, calm performance in the semi-final I said we just need to maintain that patience and stick to our plans and that's what they did.
"There was calm passing and the shooting was brilliant, the whole court play was brilliant."
At the completion of the tournament, Hurford and her fellow selectors named the Western CHS side to compete at the NSW CHS Championships at Berkeley in May.
Dubbo College's Andrea Roberts, Abbie Merritt and Chelsie Moeris all gained selection after starring the title winning campaign, along with three of Orange High's best, two Blayney High School players and one player each from Kelso and Cowra High Schools.
May said a lot of the reasons behind Dubbo players making high level representative sides and teams from Dubbo reaching new levels of success was the fact the Dubbo Netball Association had been so active in helping improve the players.
"A lot of credit has got to go to the Dubbo Netball Association," May said.
"The girls have played a lot of representative games so they're used to hard netball.
"Also, the last couple of years they've introduced a fitness component and a lot of the girls have been doing that and now they're fitter, stronger and faster and can go the distance better."
WESTERN CHS: Andrea Roberts, Abbie Merritt, Chelsie Moeris (Dubbo SC), Katie Eslick, Abby Tilburg, Cheynoah Merchant (OHS), Stacey Stammers, Grace Mooney (Blayney HS), Ebony Hotham (Kelso HS), Madison Johnson (Cowra HS)