Tears and triumph as Lightning claim their first superleague title
16-YEAR WAIT ENDED BY POWERHOUSE PERFORMANCE IN THE GRAND FINAL
LOUGHBOROUGH Lightning made history on Sunday night, claiming their first-ever Vitality Netball Superleague title with a 49-32 victory over Team Bath.
In the 16 years of the franchise’s existence, Lightning had made it to three previous grand finals but never managed to cross the line, and after a confident 20-goal win in their semifinal the previous day were looking to claim their first title.
Lightning were quick off the blocks with leading scorer Mary Cholhok claiming the opening point.
Playing with a ferocity in sharp contrast to the slow start they made to their semi-final match in Saturday, the Loughborough side ended the opening quarter ahead by four.
The second half saw Lightning continue with their rampage as they chased down every ball.
Leading by example, skipper Nat Panagarry shook off any signs of nerves and kept her side focused and keen to execute their game plan.
Lightning widened their lead and headed into the half on top.
In the third quarter there were no signs of the intensity slowing. With Beth Cobden wreaking turnovers across the breadth of the court, the socially distanced but spectacularly noisy 1,000 fans in the Copper Box Arena, London, were treated to the ultimate netball showdown.
With just 12 minutes left on the clock, the noise rose to new levels as “netball’s coming home” began to sound out.
Goal keeper Sam May, who recently announced her retirement at the close of the season, savoured the final minutes of her glittering career, helping her side to remain in control and extend their lead to take the title.
Tears of joy overwhelmed the team as Lightning were crowned champions.
Suffering heartbreak in 2018’s grand final, Beth Cobden has since overcome two ACL reconstructions and returned to court this year.
Named the 2021 VNSL player of the year Cobden also picked up the grand final’s player of the match award to crown an incredible comeback season.
She said: “If someone had told me this time last year that I would be in the final and that we’d win... I’m just so happy, it’s all been so worth it.
“We wanted to do this for the club – they’ve not won it before, the girls who have been there for years, who have been there at the end of a final loss, it was just great to get it for Loughborough.
“We believed in ourselves, stuck together, stuck to what we know we can do well and it all came together.”
For Sara Francis-Bayman, it was a triumphant end to her first grand final as a coach. She said: “There are so many stories in this team, it was Sam May’s last game, Beth Cobden coming back from her injuries, those guys who have suffered two or three final losses with Lightning.
“To do that the way they did it, that outpouring of emotion, that’s what you see from all those stories
“I was so nervous that I only thought we’d done it with about three minutes to go.
“I couldn’t decide whether to put people on, I just lost the plot, we were falling apart on the bench!”
On her first major success since retiring from an international playing career to become Lightning’s director of netball, Francis-Bayman said: “For the team to come out and play like that, with doubt in your mind after not winning finals and thinking you can’t do it, for them to come out and attack it like that I couldn’t be more proud.”