The 616-day wait was finally over for fervent fans and spectators alike, as Wednesday evening played host to Round 1 of the 2021 Victorian Netball League (VNL) season. Featuring some cracking matches across the courts of the almost fully redeveloped State Netball Centre, as well as those at Oakleigh Recreation Centre, the opening round certainly had it all.
CHAMPIONSHIP
BOROONDARA EXPRESS 48 def by NORTH EAST BLAZE 55
GEELONG COUGARS 55 drew CITY WEST FALCONS 55
ARIELS 44 def by MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY LIGHTNING 57
WILSON STORAGE SOUTHERN SAINTS 45 def by HAWKS NETBALL 46
North East Blaze certainly lived up to their name in their first game of the season, coming out ‘blazing’ in their 7-goal victory over Boroondara Express.
Although Boroondara remained resilient, mustering up a consistent defensive effort across all four quarters, Blaze’s early breaks proved to be too much for their opposition to handle.
Solid performances in the midcourt from young guns Kali Dolphin and Alex Moody for Blaze, as well as Hannah Mundy for Boroondara, kept audiences transfixed until the final buzzer. North East Blaze goaler, Nyah Allen also had a night out, amassing 29 goals at 91% accuracy.
On the win, Allen noted how excited her team was to be back playing VNL again.
“It felt really good [to be on court] actually, we executed our game plan and for a lot of girls in our team, it was their first VNL game tonight so it was really good to see them out there as well.”
The 2020 Collingwood Magpies training partner was also complimentary of a full team performance.
“My performance was helped with all the support from the girls on the team – they all played well – so it definitely made my job a lot easier.”
Raucous cheers from the crowds on Court 2 could be heard right throughout the State Netball Centre, as the 2019 premiers Geelong Cougars battled it out against City West Falcons in a nail-biter.
While the Cougars opened the match confidently, attaining a 7-goal lead at the end of the first quarter, the fighting Falcons managed to reel the score back to within a 1-goal difference during the third quarter, executing an inspirational final play to tie the match at 55 a-piece.
Cougars’ Julia Woolley proved to be instrumental in her team’s excellent performance, as was Brooke Allan.
Fans from all around the state were also able to witness the thriller quarter-for-quarter via the Netball Victoria Facebook livestream.
Melbourne University Lightning (MUL) also opened their season in style, claiming a 13-goal win over Ariels. According to star midcourter, Kelsie Rainbow, MUL’s win was “18 months in the making”.
“Ariels brought a really strong, physical game tonight in the first half and then in the second half, we stuck to our game plan and moved through those rotations and got everyone on the court which was fantastic… we had a ball out there, it was great.”
Rainbow additionally praised her team’s dedication to pre-season training, which she believes has helped create depth across the board and empowered MUL’s goalers to shine.
The win places MUL on the top of the Championship ladder.
Meanwhile, at the Oakleigh Recreation Centre, Hawks Netball pipped the Wilson Storage Southern Saints by 1 goal in a gripping contest. Though Hawks maintained the lead for much of the match, sharp shooting performances from Saints’ Sinead Lumsden and Ella Quinlan (both had 100% accuracy in the final term) added extra pressure, only for the Hawks to finish on top. Hawks’ midcourters Jasmine Ferguson and Ally Salter stood up to the challenge however, propelling their team to victory.
DIVISION 1
BOROONDARA EXPRESS 46 def by NORTH EAST BLAZE 52
GEELONG COUGARS 58 def CITY WEST FALCONS 39
ARIELS 62 def MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY LIGHTNING 48
WILSON STORAGE SOUTHERN SAINTS 55 def HAWKS NETBALL 42
In a commensurate manner to their Championship side, North East Blaze also triumphed over Boroondara Express, winning by 6 goals. However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the 2019 premiers, as Express came out in full force in the final term and capitalised on a number of breaks.
Samantha Coppinger, North East Blaze shooter, cited that her side were expecting the tough fight.
“They came back quite hard and Boroondara are a really good side, so we knew that they were going to come hard. But our defensive effort in that last quarter was insane, which helped us get over the line.”
She also conceded that there were a few moments where the team struggled to find rhythm, after not having played a competitive VNL match for months.
“We were erratic at the start of the fourth, which allowed them to come back a little bit, but we were able to then regain our composure and finish well.”
“It’s so nice to be back though, no matter what the score line was, as long as we executed our game plan then we would have been happy, but obviously it was really nice to come away with a win.”
Flaunting a 19-goal margin, Geelong Cougars posted a convincing win against City West Falcons. Plenty of defensive drive down the court and attacking pressure enabled Cougars to capture an 8-goal lead at halftime, before finishing off strongly.
The win places Geelong Cougars at the top of the Division 1 ladder.
Though Ariels initially struggled to find their feet in their face-off with MUL, Alex Maher’s emphatic performance, scoring 45 goals at 96% accuracy, helped galvanize them in their 14-goal victory.
As Ariels’ Emma Wallmeyer stated, “it was a very physical game… it really tested our girls to stand up and play our game and they did a really good job of that.”
Other noteworthy performances included Ariels’ Ellie Kennedy in wing defence, as well as MUL’s Tara O’Grady, who shot at 89% on the other end of the court.
At Oakleigh Recreation Centre, Wilson Storage Southern Saints managed to pull off a 13-goal win over Hawks Netball, with Saints’ Georgie Whittle, Emily Boribon and Sasha Witts starring in a determined display. Despite some impressive plays and defensive work from Hawks, Saints appeared to be too strong on the night.
19&U
BOROONDARA EXPRESS 45 def by NORTH EAST BLAZE 59
GEELONG COUGARS 48 def CITY WEST FALCONS 37
ARIELS 44 def by MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY LIGHTNING 58
WILSON STORAGE SOUTHERN SAINTS 47 def by HAWKS NETBALL 51
Attributing their success to “hard strength and conditioning” sessions over pre-season, Cassidy Iedema was instrumental in Blaze’s success over Boroondara Express, shooting 42 goals at 88% accuracy.
“We did pretty well, we’ve trained for it,” she said. “It’s been a long pre-season with last year and this year and we’ve got quite a few new girls on the team but we all did really well, we brought it down and stuck to the game plan and we executed our jobs.”
While a mere margin of 2 goals separated the sides at the end of the first quarter, Iedema noted that “sticking to defence and centre pass set-ups” allowed the team to extend their lead across the remaining three quarters.
Irrespective of the result however, Iedema was just glad to be playing competitively as “it’s so much better than training!”
The Geelong Cougars are also off to a flying start in the 19&U division, after defeating 2019 premiers, City West Falcons, by 11 goals.
Though scores were level at quarter time, a phenomenal performance from Cougars’ Eliza Cahill inspired the group to grasp a 4-goal lead at three-quarter time, before delivering a knockout blow to the Falcons in the final term.
Cougars will now face Ariels in Round 2, while the Falcons will look to seal their first win of the season against Peninsula.
On Court 4, a dominant second term from MUL resulted in Ariels’ first upset of the season.
As MUL’s Lavinia Fox commented, “In the first quarter I think we ended even, so it was very close, but then we got momentum in the second and built some connections in there which was really good for our first hit-out.”
“We were just so glad to just be out on court together [after the long break] and to get the win was unreal.”
While Ariels’ Kiara Legg and Clara Choi put up a strong fight, their side was no match for the full-team synergy displayed by MUL.
“We’ve been able to get to know each other really well off the court, as well as on the court, and I think that was reflected in today’s match,” Fox explained.
“In the end, our coach’s advice for us today was simple: it was just to go out there, not overthink it and play the netball we love.”
MUL’s win places them at the top of the 19&U ladder.
And finally, in the showdown at Oakleigh Recreation Centre, Hawks Netball emerged as victors in a tight contest against Wilson Storage Southern Saints, only prevailing by 4 goals in the end.
Despite a 1-goal lead at the end of the third quarter for Saints, courtesy of captain Laura Cole’s dominance in centre, Hawks came out firing in the fourth to clinch the victory.
