MALVERN College Prep School U13s netball team achieved an excellent third place in the IAPS national finals at Roedean, Brighton.

From the 90 prep schools that entered this year's competition, there were 20 teams at the finals, having qualified from their various regions.

For the second successive year, Malvern College Prep School, along with Millfield, qualified from the Clifton College regional tournament.

At Roedean, MCPS had an excellent start to the day by beating the Scotland region 9-0 and in their group of 10 schools, they won nine matches suffering a frustrating loss against Westbourne House. MCPS therefore went through to the semi-finals, as runners-up from their group, to play the winners of the other group, Felsted, who had beaten Millfield.

Jill Brierly, head of girls' games, said: "We certainly did not get the run of play in this play-off against Felsted and we sadly lost sight of getting to the final as the game progressed.

"However, we were now to challenge Westbourne House again, this time for third place. We certainly knew this was very possible, and played this final game like a dream. We led from the start and never really looked threatened, winning 11-8."

So, third place it was to be for a very jubilant Malvern College Prep School team.

This achievement followed earlier success in the week when both the U12 and U13 teams won the Malvern schools' district tournaments. The U13 team also goes through to the Worcestershire sSchools' county netball finals.