News

stars-v-northumbria-group-lindsey-dowthwaite-photography

Severn Stars celebrate end of season with awards

Severn Stars celebrated the end of a successful season at their inaugural presentation evening.

Hosted by CCR Motor Co. Cheltenham & Gloucester, Stars welcomed guests including players, friends and family, volunteers and representatives from various sponsors.

Coaches for the Under 19, Under 21 and Vitality Netball Superleague squads spoke about their season before awards were handed out to players from each squad.

Severn Stars Vitality Netball Superleague Club is a joint collaboration between the University of Worcester and University of Gloucestershire.

Anita Navin, Severn Stars’ Director of Netball, said: “The success of our age group squads and the Vitality Netball Superleague squad finishing sixth with an amazing run of five home wins in a row means the world as we continue to achieve our goals as a Vitality Netball Superleague club.

“Seeing so many of our academy and National Performance League players at the event proves the impact we are having on the future generation of netball.

“I must thank all of our volunteers, coaching and support staff as well as our strong teams of support at the University of Gloucestershire and University of Worcester. We now start planning for season three.”

 

Under 19s:

Player of the Season: Chloe Carchrie

Sponsored by Gloucestershire County Netball Association

Player’s Player: Olivia Jones

Sponsored by Gloucestershire County Netball Association

Most Improved Player: Thalia Letori

Sponsored by Gloucestershire County Netball Association

 

Under 21s:

Player of the Season: Shona O’Dwyer

Sponsored by Hucclecote Netball Club

Player’s Player: Ella Powell-Davies

Sponsored by Anita Navin

Most Improved Player: Emma Johnson

Sponsored by Kerry Bannister

 

Vitality Netball Superleague:

Player of the Season: Maryka Holtzhausen

Sponsored by Denise Egan

Player’s Player: Phumza Maweni

Sponsored by GS Consultancy

Supporter’s Player: Samantha Cook

Sponsored by Arctic Spas

 

Severn Stars Unsung Hero Award: Bruce McLaren

Sponsored by a Severn Stars Supporter

 

Nova Award – Outstanding Contribution and Development: Rudee Robinson

Sponsored by Jane Powell

 

Image credit: Lindsey Dowthwaite Photography

storm-sirens

Surrey Storm return to winning ways

Surrey Storm returned to winning ways with an impressive victory at home over UWS Sirens.

Storm headed into the game determined to recover from their double-header loss against Severn Stars last week.

From the offset the team looked in control of the match, neat passing play being the key to building a 17-10 lead by the end of the opening quarter.

The second quarter was hotly contested, and not just due to the heat of the arena.

Both sides worked tirelessly in attack and defence, Storm extending their lead to nine and finishing the half 30-21 to the good.

Sirens came out flying in the second half, however defensive partnership of Jo Trip and Lorraine Kowalewska quickly quelled the visitors.

Katie Harris and Sigi Burger were able to cement a 13 goal lead as Storm headed into the final quarter 45-32 up.

Tension grew at Surrey Sports Park as Sirens swiftly closed the gap, cutting Storm’s lead to just seven with several minutes remaining.

Thankfully Georgia Lees and Jade Forbes-Wattley regained control of the game, calming the team down with smart possession play.

As the final buzzer sounded the crowd erupted in deafening cheers, Storm emerging 51-44 winners on the night.

The race to reach the Vitality Netball Superleague Grand Final is heating up – don’t miss out on the season-ending spectacular and get your tickets now!

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Lightning intent on causing upset

In-form Loughborough Lightning Netball travel to Wasps on Saturday 26th May, intent on causing an upset.

With the Midlands derby taking place at the Ricoh Arena, Lightning are determined to reverse a 49-60 loss at home to their rivals at the start of March. Wasps, who lifted the Grand Final trophy last season beating Lightning in the final, are sitting pretty at the top of the 2018 Vitality Netball Superleague table, but the Loughborough University side are snapping at their heels.

With Lightning looking like a more cohesive outfit since the Commonwealth Games, Beth Cobden and Shamera Sterling returning with medals, the netballing world will expect this game to go down to the wire. Having dispatched of Celtic Dragons and UWS Sirens on the road last week, Lightning will be full of confidence when they make the much shorter trip on Saturday evening.

Looking ahead to the game Head Coach Anna Carter commented:

“We’ve got a big game coming up. What we’ve done really well over the last few weeks is to focus in training on what we’re about and what we need to do. We’d like to have a good go at Wasps; last time we didn’t turn up the first half so the plan of attack will be to start better, see where we are at half time and see if we can push on from there.

“Our plan for the week is that we usually spend Tuesday analysing ourselves, looking at how we played at the weekend, and then Thursday we look at the opposition. I feel we’re in a really good place and we’re just really looking forward to Saturday now and showcasing what we can do.”

Despite sitting second in the table, Lightning know they need to keep winning games to ensure their top four spot and a place in the Play-Offs. The Wasps game is the first big test, before the final home game of the season on Saturday 2nd June against Severn Stars.

Tickets for that must win game are still available by clicking here – your support is needed to ensure the ladies in purple are in the hunt for silverware come the end of the season.

The race to reach the Vitality Netball Superleague Grand Final is heating up – don’t miss out on the season-ending spectacular and get your tickets now!