Tuks outlasted Maties to claim a 60-55 victory at the Coetzenburg Indoor Centre on Sunday night and grab their first victory of the 2018 Varsity Netball campaign.
Maties were feeling positive after winning their first two matches, but the Tuks had never lost to Maties when they faced them in Stellenbosch, which meant that both teams were going to come out guns blazing.
In front of a packed Coetzenburg Indoor Centre it was the visiting Tuks who opened the scoring, before the teams played a bit of one for you, one for me in terms of scoring. Tuks, who lost their opening two matches, then started to take control and lead 16-10 before ending the quarter at 20-13 in front.
The Tuks were again first to score after play resumed, and even though Maties were scoring the occasional goal the ladies from Pretoria were able to extend their lead to 33-22 at halftime.
Maties were quick out of the blocks in the third quarter but again Tuks held firm, leading 41-32 at one stage. The power play was called but neither team could capitalize on the opportunity, and the margin remained the same, with the quarter ending with Tuks leading 50-41 and knowing that they had already earned a bonus-point for scoring 50 goals in a match.
The final quarter saw the second power play called and both teams scored twice in the allocated two minutes, which was of no help to the chasing Maties. A never-say-die attitude saw the Maties first claim their own bonus-point for scoring 50 goals in the match, before they narrowed the score to a five-goal difference with about three minutes left in the action-packed encounter. The final score of 60-55 showed how epic the encounter was and this encounter is surely to be repeated when the knockout matches roll round in October.
Maties will want to grab the maximum points on offer when they face a struggling UJ on Monday night while Tuks will want to keep the winning feeling when the meet Madibaz in the earlier game.
FNB Player of the Match: Tshinakaho Mdau (Tuks)
Samsung Shot of the Match: Ine-Mari Venter (Tuks)
Wimpy Moment Maker: Charmaine Baard (Maties)
Teams
Maties: Charmaine Baard Sian Moore Nichole Taljaard Abeline Olivier Adri Uys Carla Werth (Captain) Sasha-lee Petersen Zhane Petersen Alison Malgas Caleigh Stuart Lauren Adendorf Stephanie Brandt
Tuks: Ine- Mari Venter Chantelle Swart Anique Grobler Danielle van Zyl Jeanette Vermeulen Marilyn Cilengi Tshinakaho Mdau Juzelri Garbers Marlize de Bruin Lungile Mthembu Akosua Mensah Jeante Strydom
By Dorfling Terblanche
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