ROUND 14 turned out to be the round of upsets in Warrnambool and District league netball with two major boilovers on Saturday.
Bottom-of-the-ladder Deakin University produced a big upset when it defeated sixth-placed Kolora-Noorat 47-45.
While the Sharks celebrated their third win of the season, the loss put the Power 10 points away from the top five.
And in the biggest upset of the season, seventh-placed East Warrnambool had a 42-31 win over second-placed Panmure.
The Bombers opened up an 11-5 lead at quarter-time before the Bulldogs got back in the game in the second quarter and narrowed the gap to two goals at half-time.
But the Bombers extended their lead to five goals going into the last quarter.
They played inspired netball in the last quarter shooting 13 goals to seven to produce the win .
A more predictable result kept the top-three aspirations of Dennington alive after the Dogs travelled to Allansford on Saturday and came home with a 56-41 victory.
Just percentage stands between fourth-placed Dogs and third-placed South Rovers with four rounds remaining.
Dennington assistant coach Monique Lewis said an even performance from her team was the catalyst for the win.
"It was a really good team effort, everyone played their role," Lewis said.
"Even though Allansford are second last on the ladder we knew it would be a tough game and we were ready for that.
"There was only a goal in it our way at quarter-time so it was really good that our girls kept working hard and were able to build a lead from there."
The day held extra significance for Dennington with star goal shooter Lani Barling playing her 250th game.
Barling shot 30 goals in a dominant display.
She received good supply through the tireless work of Krystal Day in the centre and Melissa Lewis at goal defence.
While the Dogs have another game they are expected to win this Saturday when they come up against Russells Creek, Lewis said the Dogs were not taking any matches lightly.
"It is such a tight competition and we know that if we drop a game then it can really hurt us," she said.
"We will be going into next week against Russells Creek knowing we will have to play well to get a win."
While the result did not go its way, Allansford was far from disgraced against one of the competition's best line-ups.
Defenders Courtney Matthews and Stephanie King had strong games as did Sara Croft from her post at wing attack.
In other games Merrivale defeated Russells Creek 63-32 and Old Collegians had a 58-39 win over Timboon Demons.
abrady@standard.fairfax.com.au