A final quarter scoring spree in the powerplay took Maties to a 71-60 victory against the NWU in a crucial Varsity Netball clash in Stellenbosch today (Monday, 23 August.)
The top two unbeaten sides in the 2021 Varsity Netball tournament took to the court to see who would get bragging rights in this titanic encounter. It was a closely fought encounter, until NWU took the powerplay.
Maties dominated this two minute period and took their own powerplay in quick succession to grab the victory in the final quarter.
Earlier, the home side, Maties, used their home court advantage to the full to take a 30-27 lead at half-time. The Maties attacking duo of Nichole Taljaard and Sian Moore kept their team in the lead with a couple of creative interchanges to keep the scoreboard ticking.
The same can be said of NWU duo, Elmeré van der Berg and Lucy Strydom also did the same to keep the pressure on in a tight game. A couple of discipline and tactical issues also hampered the NWU against a tight and structured Maties team during certain phases of the third quarter.
In this see-saw encounter, the NWU also started to find their way at the end of the third quarter closing the gap to 45-44 with one quarter to go. Both teams still had to take their powerplay, which made for an exhilarating final quarter of Varsity Netball action.
Van der Berg continued to be a pillar of strength for the NWU as she continued scoring at will when fed by captain and centre, Jessica du Plessis in the circle to keep the Potchefstromers in the business end of the game.
Both powerplay periods went in Maties favour and this was where Maties took control to close out the game. Moore and goal defense, Syntiche Kabuya were two of the standout players for the hosts.
“We had a bad loss today, but we will regroup for the match tomorrow. We need to go build on the positives today. Maybe I should’ve taken the powerplay in the third quarter,” stated NWU head coach, Elsunet du Plessis.
The NWU now need to regroup in the coming days after their first loss of the competition.
NWU next face UJ tomorrow at 13:00.
