DSG wins K-Day netball
DSG’s first netball team earned a hard-fought 33-22 victory over Kingswood in a tightly-fought contest on Friday at Kingswood's High Performance Centre.
The match was always expected to be a thriller. In the same venue, involving the same two teams in 2012 and 2014, scores were tied at the end of the third quarter, with DSG winning in 2012 and Kingswood in 2014. The 2015 edition hosted by DSG was drawn. So 2016 always promised to a be crowd entertainer.
Apart from the excellent talent displayed on court, the passion for netball from both Kingswood and DSG supporters was tangible. The 1st team players and coaches from both sides walked on to court arms linked with the opposition in the best display of true sportsmanship, and were met by roars of supportive screams and war cries from each half of the divide. Although Kingswood opened the scoring, DSG had the edge throughout the game. Nevertheless, they had to battle hard for most of it. After the first quarter the score was 9-8 to DSG, and the visitors had narrowly extended their lead to 16-14 by halftime. DSG then finished the 3rd quarter 23-18 up, before pulling away towards the end.
DSG coach Sanelisiwe Sobahle noted that at the end of the day the real winner was netball - and that her team had played 24 matches in prepara- tion for K-Day. Sobahle credited her opponents, stating that “it was a tough game but the girls played well”. The captain and vice-captain, Hannah Rippon and Emma Köster, gave thanks to their team for their determination - and to the crowd for producing a positive atmosphere.
Kingswood displayed aggressive attacking skills and kept fighting until the bitter end, but unfortunately lost many balls in the shooting circle. Team captain Ashleigh Meyer said that it was a tough game and both teams played well, but conceded: “Unfortunately, we lost to good competition.” Meyer hopes that Kingswood’s “young team” will be able to bounce back next year.