The Severn Stars will look to end their winless start to their 2018 Vitality Netball Super League season when they play host to Surrey Storm this weekend. This will be the last fixture at the University of Worcester Arena before the break for the Commonwealth Games.
Stars have lost all of their opening four games this season so far and sit 8th in the table. Although the results haven’t been the best, they have played against the top four teams in the league last season and four of the current top five this year.
They looked like they could end their opening losing streak when they led most of the game against Team Bath on earlier this week but they just fell short in a 47-48 loss at the University of Worcester Arena.
Samantha Bird spoke to the Stars in an interview on Twitter after the game on Monday, where she claimed she was pleased with the performance despite the loss.
She said: “It was another massively close game, but I have to say our performance was outstanding and I’m really proud of the team.
“We went away to Mavericks on Saturday and we were really disappointed with how we performed. But to come back with one day’s rest and put in a performance like that is just outstanding.
“Of course, we’ve got to turn these tight games into wins, but it’s difficult to be frustrated with the squad because we’ve come so far with our performances from last season and I’m proud of them.”
We caught up with Head Coach @BirdBeers after last night’s narrow loss against Team Bath, here’s what she had to say #timetoshine pic.twitter.com/P4QXketvio
— Severn Stars VNSL (@SevernStars) February 27, 2018
That was the second time they lost by just one point this season after their opening day defeat to Manchester Thunder. They started very well in both games before being worn down by their opponents and losing the lead in the latter stages.
Their opponents for this weekend haven’t done any better, also unable to get their points tally off the mark as they sit just below the Stars in 9th.
Storm fell to their fourth defeat on Monday when they lost to last season’s bottom club Celtic Dragons to give the Welsh club their first points of the season.
STATS
- Severn Stars’ Eleanor Cardwell is third in the league’s leading goal scorer rankings with 154 from 182 attempts. (85% conversion rate)
- Surrey Storm’s leading scorer is Katie Harris with 78 points from 85 attempts. Despite her lower tally, Harris’ conversion rate is better than Cardwell’s (92%)
- Jodie Gibson has 14 interceptions and is fourth in league leaders in that department.
- Phumza Maweni isn’t too far behind sitting in 6th in the interception rankings with 13.
- Maweni is also the top defensive rebounder in the league (10)
- Jo Trip is Storm’s leading interceptor but sits 17th in the league standings with 10.
The game will be huge for the confidence of either side and could either way. The Stars have been playing well and got very close to those first points on a couple of occasions but if they can do it on Saturday it will be a real boost. Fellow strugglers Storm will hope a result here can really kick-start their season.
