UP-Tuks showed no signs of slowing down when they sealed a solid victory over Madibaz Netball as the Varsity Netball tournament resumed at the Madibaz Sports Centre in Gqeberha, the Eastern Cape on Sunday, 8 September 2024
The reigning champions overwhelmed Round 3 and 4 hosts Nelson Mandela University’s netball team 81-47 to secure their third win in three matches to start this year’s season.
The Pretoria team was in top form from the get-go, making the most of the mistakes made by their opponents which saw them take a 17-19 lead into the second quarter. They continued to take hold of the match showing what an experienced and quality side they are. Madibaz failed to get a handle on the game which saw the score at 40-21 at the break.
Tuks domination continued in the third quarter which saw Madibaz lose any chance of making a comeback in the match. The defending champions again showing their prowess as they recorded another big win.
The second game of the day saw Maties continue with their good form from last week as they got a 68-42 victory over Wits last night. The Maroon Machine had a slight advantage in the first quarter as the two teams were putting each other to the test which saw the score at 19-14.
Things continued in the same vain in Q2 with Maties holding the lead and Wits still maintaining a small enough points deficit to keep themselves in the game.
At half time the Cape side was leading 34-24, and Maties started to kick into gear once the match resumed, their attackers helping the team to take hold of the match and see them secure an important back-to-back win. Wits will be disappointed that they were not able to make the most of their bright start.
The fixture between UJ and Kovsies saw little separate the two teams but it was the side from Johannesburg that took the honours with a 51-46 win. UJ had a strong first quarter even though they were put to the test by UFS, but still managed to take Q1 14-9. There was a big fightback from Kovsies in the second quarter which saw the Free State team lessen the points deficit, but UJ still led 25-18 after halftime. Both teams put in a good fight in the third quarter as it ended 38-28 in favour of UJ. However, the fireworks came in the final 15 minutes as Kovsies put on quite the fightback but it was a little too late as UJ took the narrow win.
The final match of the day saw TUT Netball up against NWU Netball and it was the team from the North West seal an emphatic 75-17 win. It was hard to separate the two teams in the first quarter as it was a two-goal deficit that separated the two teams.
However, it was in Q2 that NWU started to dominate proceedings and had a healthy lead of 28-13. It was more one-way traffic in Q3 as NWU was putting on quite the performance to extend their lead to 48-22. A fantastic final quarter saw NWU turn on the heat to get the big victory as TUT’s night didn’t go according to plan.
