Well the netting doesn't appear to be coming all the way up in the first place (see pics). It's not fully extending the netting upward. There's a ton of grease on the tracks on both sides (which I suppose is normal) where the arms that lift this front bar / net is. So I'm not so sure it's just a matter of something not being lubricated. The arms do not budge at all. The netting is supposed to be fully extended upward, right?
This is as high as it goes right now, arms can't manually be moved any further in any direction:
Netting not all the way up:
As it's closing, it's hitting the base squarely, then only by its own force is it dropping down in front of it instead of being placed in front of it as normal.