Local netball team cruise to sixth tournament win in two years
There seems to be no end to the success of Pretoria-based netball teams being coached by Jenny van Dyk.
Defending champions Tshwane romped to a comprehensive 47-34 victory over Mangaung Metro in the final of the SPAR national netball championships at the Missionvale Sports Arena this past weekend.
It was coach Jenny van Dyk’s sixth tournament win since the national championships in Durban last year.
Mangaung surprised Tshwane during the round robin phase of the tournament, beating them 46-35 and the Pretoria side showed early on that they were not going to allow that to happen again.
They were three goals ahead after the first quarter and increased their lead with every successive quarter. By halftime they were 25-17 ahead and they stepped up another gear in the second half, to lead 38-24 at the third interval. Mangaung fought back hard in the final quarter, which they won narrowly, 10-9, but it was too little too late.
The Tshwane defenders, Jasmine Ziegelmeier and Shadine van der Merwe, were superb in the circle, turning the ball with thrilling intercepts and winning numerous rebounds. At the other end, Ine-Mari Venter was on song, succeeding with most of her attempts at goal as did her goal attack, Chantelle Swart.
The match, which was moved to the indoor venue because of rain in Port Elizabeth, was fast and exciting.
Tshwane centre Marelize de Bruyn, did a good job of getting the ball to the circle and was well supported by wing defence Shangile Hlongwane and wing attack Lungile Mthembu. The Pretoria team did more with their turnover ball than the young Mangaung team and that was the main difference between the two teams.
“I spent a lot of time last night going over the footage from the USSA (University Sports South Africa) final last week. We knew what kind of attack they wanted to play, and we played to our strengths rather than theirs,” said Van Dyk after the game.
Tshwane also won the Under-21 title, beating Cape Winelands 55-47.
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