An action-packed afternoon saw Stars secure the Lyn Gunson Trophy – named after the Team Bath coaching great – with a 53-34 win over the hosts and 46-40 success against Pulse, who then beat Team Bath 42-32 in the third round-robin fixture.

Head Coach Francis was pleased by the improvement shown by her squad over the course of the pre-season tournament, which was enjoyed by a capacity crowd of 1,000 spectators in the Team Bath Arena.

“We’ve tried out various combinations in our pre-season matches so far and all of it is more information for me, about what is working and what needs tweaking,” she said. “Sunday’s games highlighted some areas that we had already identified and we will continue to focus on those over the next few weeks.

“The key thing is we learn and improve every time we go out on court, and we are doing that. I’m really pleased with how reflective the girls have been about their performances and they are keen to take the opportunities to improve.

“We saw that on Sunday. The players knew they had to step it up after the first game and they did. We showed much more fight and that was the biggest positive for me. We just need to cut out the unforced errors. Stars in particular were clinical and we didn’t help ourselves by gifting them the ball on several occasions.

“The results might not reflect it but we are so close to where we want to be come the start of the season in mid-February.”

Francis was also pleased to see netball fans turn out in force for the tri-tournament, saying: “It was great to see such a big crowd on Sunday. We hope they enjoyed the event and will come back for more netball during the Super League season.”

The 2024 campaign begins on Saturday 17^th February with the Season Opener event in Nottingham where Team Bath will take on Strathclyde Sirens.

Their first home matches at the Team Bath Arena are against their Tri-Tournament opponents – Severn Stars on Friday 1^st March and London Pulse on Friday 8^th March. They also entertain old rivals Saracens Mavericks on Friday 15^th March, with a 7.30pm centre-pass for all three matches.

Tickets are on sale now for those fixtures and the six other home matches at the Team Bath Arena. Visit netball.teambath.com/tickets to find out more.

Team Bath Netball is supported by Bath Building Society and Rengen Developments, who are both overall Team Bath Partners. Flyhawk supply Team Bath’s performance clothing and off-court apparel.

With thanks to the Team Bath Press Office

Taking place at the Team Bath Arena on Sunday 14th January, this pre-season’s event will see the hosts take on local rivals Severn Stars and 2023 Super League finalists London Pulse in an action-packed round-robin competition.

Three matches will be played during the afternoon and the winners will receive the Lyn Gunson Trophy, named after the legendary Team Bath coach and University of Bath Hall of Fame for Sport inductee.

Advance tickets are priced £16 for adults, £8.50 concessions or £37 for a family ticket (one adult and three children or two adults and two children). They are available to buy online at netball.teambath.com/tri-tournament.

Pulse won the trophy when the Tri-Tournament was last contested in December 2022, while Worcester-based Stars are making their first appearance in the tournament since 2018.

All three clubs have made exciting additions to their squad for the 2024 season and the Tri-Tournament will be an early opportunity to see new faces Emma Barrie, Sloan Burton, Ellie Ervine and Lisa Putt take to the Team Bath Arena court in Blue & Gold.

Team Bath will take on Stars in the opening match at 2pm, Stars and Pulse meet at 3.15pm and the last game of a busy afternoon sees Team Bath face Pulse at 4.30pm.

Stars will also provide the opposition for Team Bath’s first home game of the 2024 Super League season on Friday 1st March (7.30pm centre-pass). Tickets for all nine home fixtures at the Team Bath Arena during 2024, plus season tickets, are on sale now at netball.teambath.com/tickets.

Team Bath Netball is supported by Bath Building Society and Rengen Developments, who are both overall Team Bath Partners, and Centurion Chartered Financial Planners. Flyhawk supply Team Bath’s performance clothing and off-court apparel.

With thanks to the Team Bath Press Office

Sophie Drakeford-Lewis lining up a shot. Photo: Bryn Vaile for Matchtight.

The Sitec-sponsored Blue & Gold looked in good shape ahead of the 2019 Vitality Superleague season as they followed up a 40-34 victory over Surrey Storm with a 46-32 defeat of benecosMavericks in the winner-takes-all third match at the Team Bath Arena.

Mavericks edged out Storm 48-46 in between those matches as all three teams served up an early Christmas treat for netball fans during a thoroughly entertaining afternoon.

It is the fourth successive year that Team Bath have won their pre-season tournament and co-captain Eboni Usoro-Brown was delighted that all 13 players in the Blue & Gold squad were able to play key roles in the victory.

Serena Guthrie on her return to the Team Bath Arena Photo: Bryn Vaile for Matchtight.

“We’re really pleased and we can take great confidence from the way we played in both games into the season,” she said. “Every single player got on court, every single player contributed and some of our play today was phenomenal.

“Thank you to each and every one of the fans who came to watch today, it was great to see such massive support. We hope to see them packing out the stands throughout the 2019 season.”

Fellow Commonwealth champion Serena Guthrie, who was making her first appearance in Blue & Gold at the Team Bath Arena since returning a stellar spell in Australia and New Zealand, added: “It was good to get our final run-out going into the Christmas break. We’ve been working hard in training so to go out there today and see how we measure up in match-play was good.

“I love Bath, it’s a beautiful place, and I’ve missed it so it’s nice to be back. We have an awesome team and we’re trying to get over the line this year after just falling short in the semi-finals so it’s great to be a part of that journey.”

The tone for the afternoon was set during an entertaining opening match between Storm and the home side, who came out on top 40-34 in front of an 871-strong Team Bath Arena crowd and those watching online via BBC Sport.

They went goal for goal during a first quarter that finished all square at 10-10 and it was a similar story in the second period, with the teams locked at 18-18 before new Australian shooter Kim Commane notched three goals without reply to give Team Bath the advantage at the break.

Guthrie, who captained England during the recent test series victory over Uganda, was among a number of players introduced during a tight-fought third quarter that saw the hosts open up a 30-24 lead.

Storm were playing well, though, and cut the gap to two during the early stages of the final period but accurate shooting from Beryl Friday and Sophie Drakeford-Lewis helped the Blue and Gold – who gave all 13 players a run-out – pull away and secure the victory.

There were a number of familiar faces on court for the second match of the afternoon, with Mavericks featuring Corbin sisters Sasha and Kadeen – both former Team Bath players – and University of Bath Natural Sciences student Tash Pavelin in their starting line-up against a Storm squad featuring Bath graduates Yasmin Parsons and Nicole Humphreys.

Storm started brightly but Mavericks quickly found their stride to lead 10-7 at the end of the first quarter before extending their advantage to 22-16 with a fine performance in the second period.

Both teams contributed to an action-packed third quarter that saw 29 goals scored in ten minutes and Mavericks lead 37-30.

Storm may have been playing their second successive game but they continued to perform with great energy and won the final quarter 16-11 to cut Maverick’s margin of victory to 48-46.

That meant the final match between Team Bath and Mavericks would be decisive, and the home side were clearly determined to get the overall win as they produced a superb performance in the opening quarter.

They were dominant right across the court as they stormed into an 11-4 lead, with Usoro-Brown and Summer Artman – facing her former franchise – forging a strong defence with Imogen Allison.

Guthrie and Rachel Shaw were dynamic in mid-court, providing great service for the attacking duo of Drakeford-Lewis and Commane who have already struck up a slick combination.

Mavericks made a bright start and finish to the second period, scoring five goals without reply at one point, but Team Bath were shooting well and a goal on the buzzer from Drakeford-Lewis made it 21-14 at the interval.

Both teams rang the changes for the third quarter, with Guthrie returning at centre and Leila Thomas, Abi Robson, Amanda Varey and Friday coming on for the hosts. All had a huge impact on the game as Team Bath extended their advantage to 35-22 with another excellent display.

Laura Rudland and Mia Ritchie came on in the final quarter to help the Blue & Gold pull even further clear and wrap up a 46-32 victory.

Team Bath Netball Head Coach Jess Thirlby said: “It’s a bit of a cliché amongst coaches but one of the key things we look for is consistency and it was really good to see us not lose any of our eight quarters.

“We can be proud of our performances today and thank you to Mavericks and Storm for providing such great competition.”

Season and match-day tickets are on sale now for the 2019 Vitality Superleague campaign, with the first match at the Team Bath Arena – on Monday, January 28 – also involving Surrey Storm.

The season begins on Saturday, January 5 with a Super 10 event at the NEC in Birmingham featuring all of the Superleague franchises, starting with Team Bath’s match against Celtic Dragons at 11am.

Tickets information is available at netball.teambath.com/tickets.

Team Bath Netball are sponsored by Sitec and supported by partners Mogers Drewett, Soldi and Netball South West. Centurion Chartered Financial Planners are supporting the team’s performance analysis and people development capabilities, Viper 10 are their Sportswear Supplier and Skins provide the team with compression wear.

Today’s squads

Team Bath Netball: Imogen Allison, Summer Artman, Kim Commane, Sophie Drakeford-Lewis, Beryl Friday, Serena Guthrie, Abi Robson, Mia Ritchie, Laura Rudland, Rachel Shaw, Leila Thomas, Eboni Usoro-Brown, Amanda Varey.

benecosMavericks: Karyn Bailey, Steph Collard, Kadeen Corbin, Sasha Corbin, Beth Ecuyer Dale, George Fisher, Lindsay Keable, Georgia Lees, Gabby Marshall, Lauren Nicholls, Tash Pavelin.

Surrey Storm: Mikki Austin, Sigi Burger, Jessica Dale, Rhea Dixon, Emily Gulvin, Yasmin Hodge England, Katy Holland, Nicole Humphreys, Lorraine Koweleska, Laura Morton, Yasmin Parsons, Alima Priest.

Today’s scores

Team Bath v Surrey Storm: Q1 10-10. Q2 21-18 (11-8). Q3 30-26 (9-8). Q4 40-34 (10-8).

benecosMavericks v Surrey Storm: Q1 10-7. Q2 22-16 (12-9). Q3 37-30 (15-14). Q4 48-46 (11-16).

Team Bath v benecosMavericks: Q1 11-4. Q2 21-14 (10-10). Q3 35-22 (14-8). Q4 46-32 (11-7).

Courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight 

The annual Blue & Gold tri-tournament – taking place at the Team Bath Arena on Saturday (December 15) – will, for a second successive year, be broadcast to a national audience on the BBC Sport website and app.

The full event, which sees an exciting new-look Team Bath squad take on benecosMavericks and Surrey Storm, will then be available to watch in full on the BBC iPlayer for the following 30 days.

Team Bath Netball Head Coach Jess Thirlby said: “It is fantastic to be working with the BBC again to provide netball with such a great platform ahead of what is sure to be a memorable 2019.

“Not only do we have what looks set to be an ultra-competitive Vitality Superleague season to look forward to in the new year but there is the Netball World Cup in Liverpool, which is also being shown live on BBC Sport.

“The tri-tournament is an important stage of our pre-season preparations, giving us a final opportunity to try out combinations in a competitive match-day environment against top-quality opposition before the Superleague begins in January.

“We are looking forward to putting on a good show not only for our wonderful supporters in the Team Bath Arena but also for those enjoying the last live netball of the year on their connected TVs, computers, tablets and phones.”

The tri-tournament, which gets under way at 2pm, will be a first run-out at the Team Bath Arena in four years for England superstar Serena Guthrie following her high-profile return to the Blue & Gold after a stellar spell in New Zealand and Australia.

She will be joined on court by fellow Commonwealth Games champion Eboni Usoro-Brown, one of a number of experienced senior players in the squad along with Mia Ritchie and Rachel Shaw.

Summer Artman, Laura Rudland and Amanda Varey are back in Blue & Gold after spells away, while it is a first opportunity for Wales international Leila Thomas and Australian duo Beryl Friday and Kim Commane to experience playing in front of the Team Bath crowd.

Completing the Sitec-sponsored squad are the exciting young talents of Imogen Allison, Chartie Curtis, Sophie Drakeford-Lewis and Abi Robson.

There will be some familiar faces amongst the opposition on Saturday, with Mavericks including the Corbin sisters – Kadeen and Sasha – in their squad along with University of Bath Natural Sciences student Tash Pavelin, who is on a year-long placement.

University of Bath graduates Nicole Humphreys and Yasmin Parsons, both of whom have played in Superleague for the Blue & Gold, are in the Surrey Storm squad.

Doors open at 1pm on Saturday and the BBC coverage, featuring Jennie Gow as lead commentator, begins at 1.55pm. Team Bath face Storm in the opening match at 2pm, then Storm take on Mavericks at 3.15pm before an action-packed afternoon concludes with the Blue & Gold against Mavericks at 4.30pm.

The live stream will be available here.

Remaining tickets for the tri-tournament are available at netball.teambath.com along with tickets for the 2019 Superleague and a new range of merchandise.

Team Bath Netball are sponsored by Sitec and supported by partners Mogers Drewett, Soldi and Netball South West. Centurion Chartered Financial Planners are supporting the team’s performance analysis and people development capabilities, Viper 10 are their Sportswear Supplier and Skins provide the team with compression wear.

Tri-tournament squads for Saturday

Team Bath Netball: Imogen Allison, Summer Artman, Kim Commane, Chartie Curtis, Sophie Drakeford-Lewis, Beryl Friday, Serena Guthrie, Abi Robson, Mia Ritchie, Laura Rudland, Rachel Shaw, Leila Thomas, Eboni Usoro-Brown, Amanda Varey.

benecosMavericks: Karyn Bailey, Steph Collard, Kadeen Corbin, Sasha Corbin, Beth Ecuyer Dale, George Fisher, Georgia Lees, Lindsay Keable, Gabby Marshall, Dani McFarlane, Lauren Nicholls, Tash Pavelin.

Surrey Storm: Mikki Austin, Sigi Burger, Jessica Dale, Rhea Dixon, Leah Goss, Emily Gulvin, Yasmin Hodge England, Katy Holland, Nicole Humphreys, Lorraine Koweleska, Laura Morton, Yasmin Parsons, Emily Porter, Alima Priest.

Courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.

Team Bath’s Kadeen Corbin outjumping Severn Stars’ Dominique Ford-Gordon (Photo: Bryn Vaile for Matchtight)

The Sitec-sponsored Blue and Gold came from behind to beat Stars 35-27 and then overcame 2017 Superleague champions Wasps 29-25 in the final match of a fantastic afternoon of netball at the University of Bath Sports Training Village.

Wasps were also 39-32 victors over Stars in the second of three matches enjoyed by a vocal 800-strong crowd in the Team Bath Arena and a global audience via BBC Sport, who streamed all the games live.

Team Bath Netball Head Coach Jess Thirlby said: “On and off the court it has been a fantastic success. For people both here in the Arena and at home to be able to watch that standard of netball was great. I hope anyone watching who was new to the sport is now hooked!

“To welcome two teams of the calibre of Stars and Wasps was brilliant for our pre-season preparations. We were pushed all the way in both matches and it was really pleasing that all three games were highly contested.

BBC Sport commentary team of Jennie Gow and David White. (Photo: Bryn Vaile for Matchtight)

“We’ve done pretty well in our pre-season outings so far and feel like we are building some momentum towards the season. I hope that the fans will jump on board with that – we really value our supporters and we hope they will keep turning out in big numbers for the Superleague games.”

England attacker Kadeen Corbin, who made her first appearance at the Team Bath Arena since returning to the Blue and Gold in the summer, added: “I love being back at Team Bath, the welcome here is always great and it was nice to get the two wins.

“They were good games, close games, and we came out with the wins so we can progress from here. Credit to BBC Sport for giving our sport such amazing coverage today.”

The tournament got off to an entertaining start as Team Bath overturned a half-time deficit to beat West County rivals Severn Stars in the opening match.

The hosts raced out of the blocks and were 5-0 up in no time as Corbin quickly found her range but Stars worked their way back into the game and smart shooting from Rosie Allison – one of a number of former Team Bath players in the squad – helped to reduce the gap to 7-4 at the end of quarter one.

Stars pushed on in the second quarter and led 14-13 at half-time but Team Bath changed their six of their line-up for the third period and regained the initiative, with Chelsea Lewis and Sophie Drakeford-Lewis forging a good attacking partnership.

They fired Team Bath into a 24-20 lead before the hosts pulled further clear in the final period to seal the victory.

Stars only had a brief turnaround before their second match against Wasps but that did not prevent them getting off to a strong start and opening up a 12-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

With former Team Bath player Sam Cook excelling in defence and Eleanor Cardwell impressing in attack, they were able to double their advantage during the second period and take a 20-14 lead.

However, 2017 Superleague champions Wasps found their groove in the third quarter and a stunning run of 11 unanswered goals turned the game on its head. Former Team Bath shooter Rachel Dunn returned to the fray in the final quarter to extend their 29-24 lead to a final score of 39-32.

That meant the last game of the day would decide who won the tournament overall and it was Wasps who got off to the better start, picking up where they left off against Stars to race into a 4-0 lead.

However, inspired by some fantastic intercepts and turnovers from the star defensive duo of Layla Guscoth and Eboni Beckford-Chambers, Team Bath worked their way back into the contest and they led 7-6 at the end of a cracking first quarter.

With Lewis finding the net with great regularity, Team Bath were able to pull away into a 15-10 lead in the second period but a strong finish saw opposition shooter George Fisher score three times in the last minute to cut the gap to two at the interval.

The third quarter was equally nip and tuck but, with Paige Reed having an impact at goal-attack and Josie Janz-Dawson impressing at goal-keeper, the hosts were able to stretch their advantage to 23-19 before holding onto their four-goal cushion in the final period.

The tri-tournament continued the countdown to a highly-anticipated 2018 Vitality Netball Superleague season, which will be split into two halves to accommodate the Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Team Bath have nine home matches coming up, the first of them against Surrey Storm on February 23. Season and individual match tickets for all of the games on sale now – visit netball.teambath.com for further details.

Team Bath Netball are sponsored by Sitec and supported by partners Mogers Drewett, Investigo and Netball South West. Centurion Chartered Financial Planners are supporting the team’s performance analysis capabilities, Viper 10 are their Sportswear Supplier and Skins provide the team with compression wear.

Today’s squads

Team Bath Netball: Imogen Allison, Eboni Beckford-Chambers, Kadeen Corbin, Sophie Drakeford-Lewis, Asha Francis, Layla Guscoth, Josie Janz-Dawson, Chelsea Lewis, Tash Pavelin, Paige Reed, Mia Ritchie, Abi Robson, Jess Shaw, Rachel Shaw, Jazz Scott.

Severn Stars: Rosie Allison, Eleanor Cardwell, Sophie Carter, Samantha Cook, Iona Darroch, Amanda Davis, Dominique Ford-Gordon, Beth Gabriel, Jodie Gibson, Nicole Humphreys, Laura Malcolm, Rebecca Oatley, Shona O’Dywer, Ella Powell-Davis, Laura Rudland.

Wasps Netball: Halimat Adio, Jade Clarke, Rachel Dunn, George Fisher, Amy Flanagan, Tamsin Greenway, Lucy Harris, Natalie Haythornthwaite, Josie Huckle, Sam May, Hannah Reid, Monique Thompson, Fran Williams.

Results

Team Bath Netball 35 Severn Stars 27

Quarter scores: Q1 7-4. Q2 6-10 (13-14). Q3 11-6 (24-20). Q4 11-7 (35-27).

Severn Stars 32 Wasps Netball 39

Quarter scores: Q1 12-9. Q2 8-5 (20-14). Q3 (4-15) 24-29. Q4 8-10 (32-39).

Team Bath Netball 29 Wasps Netball 25

Quarter scores: Q1 7-6. Q2 8-7 (15-13). Q3 8-6 (23-19). Q4 6-6 (29-25).

Lead photo shows Team Bath’s Sophie Drakeford-Lewis on the ball.

Report courtesy of Team Bath Press office at Matchtight Ltd. 

The annual Tri-Tournament – staged in the Team Bath Arena at the University of Bath – will this year receive global exposure with the online coverage announced by Team Bath and the BBC today.

Wasps Netball, led by Tamsin Greenway, won the 2017 Superleague title in dramatic fashion in their debut season in the league. Severn Stars, led last year by Head Coach Mo’onia Gerrard, were also exciting league debutants.

Team Bath Head Coach Jess Thirlby said: “It is fantastic news that netball will appear on the BBC’s platforms in this important year for the sport. Our Tri-Tournament, with so many internationals from across the Commonwealth, will be an indicator not only of Superleague potential but will give everyone the first glimpse of who’s in form for both this month’s international quad series and the Commmonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.”

Wasps can boast the presence of Natalie Haythornthwaite, part of the England squad for the forthcoming internationals, as well as England Roses debutants Josie Huckle and George Fisher fresh from their success at Netball Europe

Jade Clarke, back from playing in the ANZ league and England’s most-capped player, has joined up with the Coventry-based outfit – twinned with Wasps Rugby – and Greenway has named herself in the playing squad, renewing the attacking partnership with veteran shooter Rachel Dunn first forged at Team Bath a decade ago.

Hosts Team Bath, meanwhile, were top-four finishers last year and have won the title five times since the league’s inauguration.  The West Country power-house, co-coached by Anna Stembridge and Jess Thirlby, were also finalists in September’s British Fast5 All-Stars Championships and a quad-tournament at Surrey Storm last month and look to be in good form.

The Blue and Gold, sponsored by Sitec, can field the Superleague’s best defensive combinations in the form of Eboni Beckford-Chambers, Layla Guscoth and new signing Josie Janz-Dawson from Australia, as well as exciting England talent and former University of Bath student Kadeen Corbin at goal-attack or goal-shooter, alongside Welsh international Chelsea Lewis.

In the mid-court and attack the Shaw sisters – Rachel and Jess – should prove strong in tandem with the emerging talent of Imogen Allison plus stalwarts Mia Ritchie and Asha Francis, who is always impactful at goal-attack. Sophie Drakeford Lewis, now studying combined electrical and mechanical engineering at Bath, is another eye-catching signing for the hosts.

Corbin and Beckford Chambers will also line up for England in this month’s international series against South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Severn Stars, coached by Sam Bird for 2018, have signed sparkling talent Sam Cook from Team Bath in the close season, strengthening their own capacity in defence, as well as Laura Rudland at goal-attack.

They have also strengthened their line-up with the arrival of South African internationals Phumza Maweni and Maryka Holtzhausen, and can rely on returning Roses athletes Ellie Cardwell and Jodie Gibson who featured for England against Malawi last year. Iona Darroch also returns for a second season after helping England U21s to bronze at the World Youth Cup last year.

Adding spice to the tournament is the fact that all three sides have former Team Bath team-mates in senior positions – Thirlby and Stembridge for the hosts, Greenway for Wasps and Director of Netball Pamela Cookey for Stars.

Doors to the Team Bath Arena will open at 13.00 with the first match taking place at 14.00. Team Bath will take on Stars in that opening encounter, followed by Wasps v Stars at 15.15 and Team Bath v Wasps at 16.30.  Each fixture will be played in fast-paced, ten-minute quarters with a five-minute half-time interval and three minutes at the quarter-breaks.

Jennie Gow, of Formula One and other major sport commentary renown, will be the main commentator for the stream with expert summary provided by David White, a Team Bath U17 coach and BBC Radio Cornwall presenter.

The live stream is accessible via the BBC Sport app and on the BBC website.

Fans who missed out on a seat in the Arena for this tournament can still buy tickets for the main Superleague season. Season tickets providing admission to all nine Superleague matches at the Team Bath Arena in 2018 are also available priced £85 for adults and £55 concessions.

Visit  for You can find more details of season tickets and all other types of ticket here.

Tri-tournament team sheets

Team Bath Netball: Imogen Allison, Eboni Beckford-Chambers, Kadeen Corbin, Sophie Drakeford-Lewis, Asha Francis, Layla Guscoth, Josie Janz-Dawson, Chelsea Lewis, Tash Pavelin, Paige Reed, Mia Ritchie, Abi Robson, Jess Shaw, Rachel Shaw, Jazz Scott.

Severn Stars: Rosie Allison, Eleanor Cardwell, Sophie Carter, Samantha Cook, Iona Darroch, Amanda Davis, Dominique Ford-Gordon, Jodie Gibson, Maryka Holtzhausen, Laura Malcolm, Phumza Maweni, Rebecca Oatley, Shona O’Dywer, Ella Powell-Davis, Laura Rudland.

Wasps Netball: Halimat Adio, Jade Clarke, Rachel Dunn, George Fisher, Amy Flanagan, Tamsin Greenway, Lucy Harris, Natalie Haythornthwaite, Josie Huckle, Sam May, Hannah Reid, Monique Thompson, Fran Williams.

Report courtesy of Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.

Starting at 1pm, fans will be entertained by three matches featuring the Blue and Gold, 2017 Vitality Netball Superleague champions Wasps and Severn Stars, who were exciting league debutantes last season.

Wasps and Stars have familiar faces as Directors of Netball in Tamsin Greenway and Pamela Cookey respectively. Both are University of Bath graduates and won titles with Team Bath Netball’s Jess Thirlby and Anna Stembridge during hugely-successful playing careers for the Blue and Gold.

The rivalry looks set to be intense, adding an edge to the afternoon, and tickets are on sale now here for what promises to be an exciting start to another big year of netball at the University of Bath’s Sports Training Village.

There will be plenty of time to catch up with friends, have something to eat and drink and watch the pre-match entertainment and warm-up before Team Bath take on West Country rivals Stars in the opening match at 2pm.

Stars and Wasps then face each other at 3.15pm before Team Bath take on Wasps in the final match of the day at 4.30pm. Each fixture will be played in fast-paced ten-minute quarters with a five-minute half-time interval and three minutes at the quarter-breaks.

Excitement is growing amongst the home fans after Team Bath’s new-look 2018 squad won their opening pre-season match against Wales last weekend, with Abi Robson and Imogen Spark making their first senior appearances.

New arrivals Josie Janz-Dawson and Sophie Drakeford-Lewis also enjoyed their first run-outs in Blue and Gold, with Team Bath Netball Head Coach Thirlby encouraged by what she saw.

“It was a great start to our pre-season campaign, with some very encouraging performances and passages of play from a multitude of combinations,” she said.

“Wales provided us with a competitive fixture and challenged us throughout which is just what we needed. There were many glimpses of what this talented team is capable of and we will be back into training to keep refining the skills and tactics we want to implement in the season.”

January’s tri-tournament will offer the first opportunity to see the Blue and Gold at home before the Superleague season begins in February with Team Bath featuring in nine home games.

Tickets for the tri-tournament are priced £10 for adults, £5 concessions, £20 for a family ticket and £4 for students.

Season tickets providing admission to all nine Superleague matches at the Team Bath Arena in 2018 are also available priced £85 for adults and £55 concessions. Visit netball.teambath.com for more details.

Team Bath Netball are sponsored by Sitec and supported by partners Mogers Drewett and Investigo. Centurion Chartered Financial Planners are supporting the team’s performance analysis capabilities, Viper 10 are their Sportswear Supplier and Skins provide the team with compression wear.

Report courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.

After beating Lightning 39-26 in the opening match, the Blue and Gold – sponsored by Sitec – then came from behind to overcome a battling Wasps outfit 36-27 in the decisive third fixture of an action–packed afternoon.

Chelsea Lewis in action for Team Bath Netball against Wasps (Photo: Matchtight)

Vitality Netball Superleague newcomers Wasps were impressive 48-35 victors over a spirited Lightning side in between those fixtures as fans were treated to plenty of entertaining netball in the build-up to the 2017 season.

It was Team Bath’s second pre-season outing, after finishing runners-up to Wasps at the Mike Greenwood Trophy in Manchester before Christmas, and Director of Netball Jess Thirlby said there were plenty of positives to take from the afternoon.

“We’re really pleased, we achieved so many of our objectives across the two games,” she said. “We were able to try out various combinations and the players who came off the bench all had a good impact.

“We have definitely taken another step up since the Mike Greenwood Trophy and it was encouraging to see how much progress we have made. There are certain match situations you can’t recreate in training and we handled them well today. The whole squad can take confidence from those performances.

“It was also good to see us win in two different ways. The first game against Lightning saw us take an early lead and hold onto it throughout, only losing one of the four quarters. Against Wasps we found ourselves trailing at half-time but we turned it around brilliantly in the third quarter and then held off some strong pressure.

“We have to say a massive thank you to Lightning and Wasps for travelling here today. We really wanted to play them as both squads have huge talent and will be challenging for a top-four place this season. They provided us with fantastic opposition and I hope they have both taken something from this afternoon as well.”

The opening match saw the hosts get off to a confident start against Lightning, opening up a 12-6 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to some deadly shooting from Chelsea Lewis.

Despite losing Beth Codben to a dislocated finger, Lightning enjoyed the better of the second period and cut the gap to 18-15 but Team Bath reasserted themselves in the third quarter, with University of Bath student Paige Reed making a strong impact at goal attack.

Jazz Scott also made a welcome return from a long-term injury in the final period as Team Bath wrapped up an impressive 39-26 victory.

Cobden was able to return for Lightning’s second match against Wasps but the Loughborough franchise suffered another injury blow when Lauren Nicholls landed awkwardly. Clearly in pain, the match was delayed for ten minutes while the wing defence received treatment and she eventually left the court in a knee brace and on crutches. All at Team Bath wish her a speedy recovery.

There was little choose to between Lightning and Wasps in the opening quarter but the Superleague newcomers managed to stretch their lead from 10-9 to 19-15 at half-time before, with Director of Netball Tamsin Greenway on court at wing-attack, going into the final period with a 34-25 advantage.

With Rachel Dunn – another former Team Bath player back on familiar territory – in fantastic shooting form, Wasps were able to wrap up a 48-35 victory and set up a last-match decider against the hosts.

Wasps had beaten Team Bath twice in the Mike Greenwood Trophy tournament in Manchester last month and they held a narrow 8-6 lead at the end of a tight, tense opening quarter.

Momentum continued to ebb and flow in the second period, with Team Bath regularly getting to within one goal of their opponents, but a run of four unanswered points in the closing stages saw Wasps go into half-time with a 17-12 advantage.

It was Team Bath’s turn to go on a scoring streak in the third period as Lewis came on to give them a 19-18 lead. With captain Eboni Beckford-Chambers leading by example with some tenacious defending at the other end of the court, the hosts were able to extend their advantage to 25-21 going into the final quarter of the tri-tournament.

Resilient Wasps refused to give in and quickly cut the gap to 27-26 but they missed a chance to draw level and that proved crucial as Team Bath killed the game off with nine goals in succession, going on to win 36-27.

Lightning will be back at the Sport Training Village on March 6 for Team Bath’s first home fixture of the 2017 Superleague season – a match which is also part of the University’s 50^th-anniversary celebrations.

That is one of a bumper nine home matches being played at the Sports Training Village this year and season tickets are on sale now priced £75 for adults and £50 concessions.

Tickets for individual matches are also available priced £12 for adults, £8 concessions and £35 for a family ticket admitting two adults and two children or one adult and three children.

You can purchase tickets here or call 0844 888 4412.

Team Bath Netball are sponsored by Sitec, Mogers Drewett are their Education Partners, Surridge are the kit supplier and Skins provide the team with compression wear.

Tri-tournament squads

Team Bath Netball: Eboni Beckford-Chambers, Layla Guscoth, Samantha Cook, Vangelee Williams, Mia Ritchie, Rachel Shaw, Jazz Scott, Amanda Varey, Paige Reed, Laura Rudland, Chelsea Lewis, Shantal Slater.

Loughborough Lightning: Beth Cobden, Chloe Essam, Ella Gibbons, Hannah Joseph, Jo Trip, Lauren Nicholls, Natalie Panagarry, Peace Proscovia, Rebekah Airey, Vanessa Walker, Vicky Oyesola.

Wasps Netball: Hannah Reid, Josie Huckle, Fran Williams, Sam May, Amy Flanagan, Nat Haythornthwaite, Lucy Parize, George Fisher, Rachel Dunn, Tamsin Greenway.

Lead photo shows Mia Ritchie on the ball as Team Bath face Loughborough Lightning

Report courtesy of the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.

Loughborough Lightning

All tickets have been snapped up for the pre-season event, which will see three matches played during one action-packed afternoon at the University of Bath Sports Training Village (12.30-7pm).

It will be the first opportunity for fans in the South West to see the new-look Blue and Gold squad – sponsored by Sitec – in action ahead of the 2017 Superleague season, which gets under way in February.

Among the home favourites they will be cheering on are new Jamaican international signings Vangelee Williams and Shantal Slater plus Rachel Shaw, who has been named in the England squad for this month’s Netball Quad series against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

University of Bath Sport Performance student Paige Reed, supported by a Santander Sports Scholarship, will also feature before joining up with the England U21 squad for their January fixtures.

Jess Thirlby, Director of Netball at Team Bath, said: “It’s great to see our amazing fans turning out in force once again and we hope to give them plenty to cheer on Saturday.

“Our pre-season preparations have been going well and we are looking forward to testing ourselves against two of the most talented squads in the Superleague.”

Coventry-based Wasps are a new franchise for 2017 but there are a couple of familiar faces in their squad for Saturday in former Team Bath players Rachel Dunn and Tamsin Greenway, who is also Director of Netball for Wasps.

Completing the line-up for this weekend’s tri-tournament is a Lightning outfit who will also provide the opposition for Team Bath’s first home fixture of the 2017 Superleague season on March 6 – a match which is part of the University’s 50^th-anniversary celebrations.

That is one of a bumper nine home matches being played at the Sports Training Village this year and season tickets are on sale now priced £75 for adults and £50 concessions.

Tickets for individual matches are also available priced £12 for adults, £8 concessions and £35 for a family ticket admitting two adults and two children or one adult and three children.

To purchase tickets, visit here or call 0844 888 4412.

Team Bath Netball are sponsored by Sitec, Mogers Drewett are their Education Partners, Surridge are the kit supplier and Skins provide the team with compression wear.

Report courtesy of Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd.