Pride fought hard and stuck with DC Force in its semi-final bout last night but was pipped by three goals.

Arch-rival and ladder leader DC Force took the Netball Victoria's state league division one match, 50-47, and moved directly to the championship match.

A top-two finish dishes Pride a handy "get out of jail free card" - a preliminary final bout against Monash University Central.

Ballarat co-coach Jo Dash said the team had let itself down but would bounce back tougher.

"That was a final and a half but we'll come back stronger for this," Dash said.

"We started the way we wanted to start out but from the word go the pressure was on and we expected that.

"In that last quarter we lost a bit of confidence and stopped working together .th.th. our change in pace was missing and became one-dimensional under pressure.

Force was fast, furious and boasted a vocal fluorescent orange junior cheersquad in the bleachers at the State Netball and Hockey Centre, Parkville.

Pride knew Force would be angry.

The only blemish in Force's otherwise unbeaten reign was delivered by the Ballarat team in their previous encounter.

Force would not underestimate Pride again.

Pride matched Force for three quarters but could not shake a goal break through the final term, including a chance to level scores within the final two minutes.

Force had pushed up the pace and Pride was troubled by fast, flashy play.

Confident drives and impressive vision gave way to hesitant, mistimed passing.

The pressure weighed on Pride goalers Georgia Cann and captain Emma Farrell, who barely missed a shot in the first half but worked overtime to receive to ball in the circle through the second.

The pair had a collective nine missed attempts on goal, all but one in the second half.

Force sharp shooters Emma Smith and Stacey Gannon were rattled by Pride's intense circle defence, missing 25 goals.

Kate McLeod hassled the imposing Smith, who often took one or two rebounds to score.

The mantra circling the Force huddle was to go hard, not rest and be exhausted later.

This time it worked, but now it is Pride's turn to bite back harder starting with a preliminary final.