The Tigers won by just one goal against a fast-finishing Sandhurst at Queen Elizabeth Oval.

Kyneton began the game strongly scoring 17 goals in the first quarter to Sandhurst’s 10.

Sandhurst continued to claw their way back throughout the game, even outscoring Kyneton by two goals in the final quarter, but it wasn’t enough.

The final score, Kyneton 44 to Sandhurst 43.

Last week Kyneton made an impressive return to the Bendigo Netball League, after more than five years out of the A-grade competition, defeating Eaglehawk by 41 goals.

Gisborne also had a hard-fought win on Saturday defeating Maryborough by six goals.

Only two goals separated the sides at half-time, however Gisborne, the defending champions, managed to outrun Maryborough.

Gisborne coach Kerryn Jorgenson said she was happy to get the win after three of her starting seven were out of the line-up.

“We missed Madeline Stewart, Polly Falter and Shelby Strong,” she said.

“We were undermanned, so it took some time to gel with the new inclusions. 

“The team persisted throughout the game.

"To sneak a win was good."

Jorgenson expected all three players to return for their Good Friday game against Kyneton.

“All the girls have been excited about this game in particular for a long time,” she said.

“We don’t know much about them, we don’t know who they have picked up, but they did have a strong win last week so it should be a good game.”

Maryborough co-coach Laura Hurse said she was proud of her team’s efforts despite the loss.

“We missed our opportunities, but we can work on some things and look to improve next round,” she said.

Hurse said her fellow co-coach Alisha Chadwick missed the game due to work commitments. 

"Alisha (Chadwick) is our most experienced player so to have her not play and get so close to the team who won it last year was a good result," she said. 

Hurse hoped Maryborough would score their first win of the season against Castlemaine next week. 

Strathfieldsaye have also bounced back after their ‘shattering’ loss in round one to defeat Eaglehawk by 18 goals on Saturday.

After losing to Golden Square in round one, Storm came out firing in round two to score a 47-29 victory.

Strathfieldsaye coach Maleta Roberts said the A-grade side had a strong pre-season.

“We are a lot more fitter and more confident in our game,” she said.

“This season we have that expectation of doing much better than we have in previous years.”

Roberts said after working so hard in the pre-season to lose the first game of the season was gut-wrenching for the girls.

“We lost heavily in the A-grade and A-reserve in round one,” she said.

“We spoke about what we had to do during the week.”

In the first half against Eaglehawk both teams went goal for goal before Strathfieldsaye broke away in the third and fourth quarters.

“After every 15 minutes we came together and readied ourselves for the next quarter,” Roberts said.

“We continued to build.”

Roberts hoped the win would be a confidence booster for the girls heading into the rest of the season.

“Before round one we were really nervous, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves and had big expectations,” she said.

“On Saturday we played a team-orientated game.

“We played as a collective, it all came into place.”