Surrey Storm Netball booked themselves a home semi-final on Monday afternoon with a 41-59 win over Hertfordshire Mavericks – their second victory over the Easter weekend.
The visitors powered ahead early in the opening quarter to effectively finish off the match and bag their second win of the season against their Netball London Live rivals.
Coach Greenway kept the same starting 7 as the one which saw off Loughborough Lightning two days previously, and this decision paid off as Pamela Cookey quickly converted a turnover to give Storm a 4-6 lead.
A footwork call against Mavericks followed by a crafty interception by captain Hannah Reid allowed them to add 4 more goals, with just a single reply, and it was Storm who finished the quarter 9-15 up.
Surrey confidently opened Q2 with a string of goals and the lead was suddenly up to 10. This was extended as the quarter progressed to hand Surrey at 16-29 lead at half time.
Storm began Q3 with another turnover, as some superb team play saw them drive the ball down court for Rachel Dunn to score, with all 7 players getting a handle on the ball. Cookey followed up with a flying save to prevent the ball from going off court, and the visitors’ score was soon double that of the hosts, as Storm lead 24-47 with a single quarter remaining.
Mavericks picked up an early turnover to give themselves some hope of a huge comeback in the final quarter but the visitors closed out the fixture to win 41-59.
The win followed an emphatic 74-45 win over Loughborough Lightning at Surrey Sports Park just two days previously, which saw Storm fly out of the blocks to lead 10-0 after just 5 minutes and go on to equal their highest goal tally this season.
Storm are now guaranteed to finish 2nd in the Superleague regular season, booking them a home semi-final against either Mavericks or Yorkshire Jets at Surrey Sports Park on Saturday 18th April, with a 4.10pm centre-pass.
The winner of this match will then go on to the Grand Final at the Copper Box Arena on Saturday 25th April, to face the winner of the other tie hosted by Manchester Thunder.
Tickets for the match are available here but are expected to sell-out in just a few days.
Pictured above: Tamsin Greenway looks for the pass to Rachel Dunn when Storm met Mavericks at Netball London Live last month.
