A double-headed fixture in Orange Netball Association’s Toyota Cup told so many stories about 2018.
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With rounds six and seven split over the weekend, the top-of-the-table clash let unbeaten Orange Physiotherapy Vipers cement their place on top of the ladder with a 47-36 win over second placed Hawks Royals dropping them down a spot to third after Craig Harvey Mechanical notched their biggest win of the season on Saturday.
However, the new day brought the new round, and Hawks redeemed themselves less than 24 hours later in a tough clash with Orange City Neweys Drive-Thru Cleaners on Sunday.
It was a tough pill to swallow for Neweys, who had managed to hold on in a nail-biting, one-point victory over Life Studio on Saturday.
Royals skipper Amanda Hurford said Sunday’s win was a “really nice” way to turn the side’s fortunes around, with Sunday’s game a chance to tweak little parts of their game.
“Coming off a loss from yesterday was obviously a bit disappointing and everything we wanted to work on we did today which was really nice so there’s been huge improvement in the 24 hours,” Hurford said.
“Little basic things, giving ourselves space, reading each other off the play, ensuring we’re communicating in defence,” she said.
Hurford said Hawks Royals’ Saturday’s game against Vipers showed them how dominant the top team is as the ladder-leaders raced to a quick start to put them firmly on the back foot.
“All credit to their shooters, they hardly missed a shot all game which really helped them, they started really strong so we were clawing our way back yesterday,” she said.
Hawks made sure the same thing didn’t happen 24 hours later as they hit the ground running in their clash with Neweys.
“(The fast start) was an area we really spoke about, to start on that front foot and not playing that back foot netball,” she said.
“Our big improvement from yesterday was both our shooters, they both played fantastic and huge credit to Emily (Neal) and Danielle (Turner).”
Neweys’ captain Erin Johnstone said she was happy with how her side had shaped up against the Hawks, but was hoping to get over the top of them next time they played.
“It was very close,” she said of the three-point loss.
She said the attack was “getting stronger every week”, but her side needed to work slowing the ball down and taking an extra pass or two.
“We need to have more patience and composure when feeding into our circle,” she said.
“I was most happy with our defence, they gained so much ball for us every game which is brilliant, we three have three in circle defence, Caitlyn Harvey, Katie Matthews and Olivia Fitzpatrick, and they always do a really good job on the shooters and adjust to different styles in each game.”
Defence was also a shining light on Saturday’s game, where Life Studio made a late charge at Neweys and made them sweat for the final result.
“We were up by by a fair bit but credit to the Life Studio team, who are a fantastic team, they clawed their way back but I think our composure was better yesterday and our defence were amazing.”
The narrative didn’t stop there – Orange High School Hornets notched their first win of the season, claiming the spoils 34-24 over Hawks DVM, lifting the Hornets off the bottom of the table, while DVM forfeited Sunday’s game against Craig Harvey Mechanical.
The Life Studio were able to overcome Life Studio Mid West Eyes in the derby, winning 57 to 47.
Meanwhile, results of the Hornets and Vipers game was unavailable at time of publishing.