Saturday's penultimate round decided three of the top-four, with Henty (second) and North Albury (third) to square off in one semi-final on March 30, while minor premiers Lavington will meet either Howlong or Culcairn in the other knockout fixture.

Howlong all but booked its place in the finals on Saturday with victory at home by 10 shots against Culcairn, 65-55.

The Spiders only required one rink win to get the job done, with John Dawson's 31-14 result against Jim Lee the deciding factor.

Culcairn won the other two match-ups as Terry Hensel's side beat Wally Bourne, 22-16, and Dave Trebley's men edged out the Howlong rink skipped by Phil Slater, 19-18.

Howlong now sits 8.5 points clear of Culcairn in fourth spot with one round to play.

Henty secured second spot with a hard-fought 56-46 victory away to North Albury on Saturday.

The result was set up thanks to a 25-8 win for Glenn Harrison's rink against Norm Honey's side.

Peter Forck also secured a point for the visitors with a 20-13 triumph against Stephen Broad, while Duane Crow got North Albury on the board with a 25-11 salute against Kerry Boyle.

Lavington collected all 10 points away to Holbrook with a 65-36 victory.

Adrian Pantling's quartet were 22-9 winners against Wolfgang Kaletta, Max Scanlan's side scored a 21-11 win against Chris Heather, while Darren Moore capped off a perfect day for the Panthers with a 22-16 triumph against Gavin Jones.

The grade three ladder after round nine is: Lavington 83, Henty 60, North Albury 49, Howlong 39, Culcairn 30.5, Holbrook 8.5.

Culcairn must record a big win away to Henty in next weekend's final round to stand a chance of sneaking into fourth and rely on Howlong losing to bottom-placed Holbrook at Holbrook, with Lavington to host North Albury.

In grade four, North Albury secured a top-three spot with a 65-52 win against Henty, while Commercial and Lavington drew, 59-all.

Grade five saw Walla defeat North Albury, 75-42, Commercial fell to Oaklands, 81-53, while Howlong was too good for Culcairn, 85-41.

North Albury locked in top spot in grade six with a 61-57 result against Lavington, while Holbrook forfeited to Commercial.

Urana is set to do the same in grade seven after it beat Henty, 80-37, North Albury will also be in the final despite a 68-48 loss to Walla.