Both teams featured in last year’s final four places with Marshalls placing second overall and UENR placing fourth.
However, neither will do so this time around after suffering shock losses in the preliminary stage to miss the train to the stage.
In Zone 4, UENR fell 8-23 to Sunyani Technical University to miss out on the top spot after two straight runs at that stage of the competition.
In Zone 7, Marshalls lost 14-16 to Ghana Technology University College to place second in the zone and fail to make it out of the zonal level for the first time.
Since its maiden appearance in 2015, Marshalls has had deep runs in the competition climaxing the run with a silver medal in 2017.
With just Zone 8 left to be sorted, the roster for the knockout phase is all but set. The national competition takes place from April 12-14 at the University of Ghana.
The same venue host Zone 8 games on Thursday March 29.
By Yaw Adjei-Mintah
@YawMintYM on Twitter
