Barton Peveril's netball team have lined up a date in the national under-19 college finals at Manchester on March 6 after winning the south region tournament.

Boosted by an initial 10-1 win over Queen Mary's (Basingstoke), they finished runners-up in their group after winning seven of their eight games - the solitary defeat coming against Marlborough College (7-6) when the Barton girls squandered a lot of possession.

They bounced back with a sparkling 9-6 win over semi-finalists New College and whipped Dr Challoners 11-2 in the final.

The Barton Peveril squad, pictured right, was: Hannah Fox, Rachel Gregory, Rachael Clark, Becky Lane (capt), Rhian Tomlin, Rebecca Newstead, Analise Cunningham and Vanessa King.

Barton are strong contenders in local netball and have been the chief rivals to Tauntons College for the last three years.

So far in the league Barton have been very successful, not losing a game but they needed the challenge of the national competition to bring out the best in them.

Typically, it was the Tauntons team who gave them the stiffest battle on the way to the regional finals.

Having topped their initial group, Barton had a real battle in the final with Tauntons College in a game played to a high standard of netball. It was great to see the impressive level of competitiveness.