The Maties netball team got the defence of their Varsity Netball title off to a winning start when they beat newcomers Wits 51-25 on the first day of the 2023 Varsity Netball tournament at the Wits Sports Hall in Johannesburg on Sunday (20 August).
The Stellenbosch team were also on the winning side in the second round (Monday 21 August), taking the spoils by narrowly beating UFS Kovies 46-43 in a humdinger encounter.
In the first match, the Maroon Machine started the first quarter slowly, while Wits showed great energy defensively to make it a four-point game.
The rest of the half saw Maties settle into their style and piling on the goals. They were better with attempts at the hoop and moved the ball well, which allowed them to go into the break with a 24-12 lead.
The third quarter saw a better turnout for Wits in front of their home crowd, who spurred them on well. The defending champions, however, held onto their lead, ending the third quarter on 37-23.
Maties came out stronger in the last quarter, making life difficult for Wits, who struggled to create any clear-cut scoring opportunities and only managed to add two goals to their tally.
In the end, the Cape side powered on to conclude the match with a 51-25 victory, with Syntiche Kabuya (Maties) named as player of the match.
In their second-round match against UFS-Kovies, the defending champions showed great consistency to clinch a nail-biting 46-43 win. The game served as a perfect finale of the first bumper weekend, with Maties getting the ball rolling at the conclusion of the first quarter to come out with a narrow 12-10 lead.
The second quarter followed a similar rhythm with the ladies in maroon remaining on top of their game when it came to disrupting the Kovsies’ attacking moves, making vital interceptions.
Kovsies did well not to allow their opponents to get too far from them on the scoreboard, with the two teams settling for a Maties lead of 23-21 at half-time.
Both teams opted to not invoke their power plays in the third quarter, keeping the match on a knife’s edge. Maties, featuring nine first year students in their squad, concluded the quarter leading 34-31.
The final quarter was a nail-biter as Kovsies showed great courage to fight back. At the conclusion of the first power play, introduced by Maties, Kovsies had managed to claw their way back to level matters at 40-40 with three minutes left to play. The final power play came into effect in the last two minutes, where Maties were able to race off to a hard-fought three-goal victory.
The Varsity Netball tournament action continues with the next three round of matches taking place at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus this weekend (Saturday 26, Sunday 27 and Monday 28 August). Maties will be in action vs North West University, the University of the Western Cape, and UP-Tuks, respectively.
