The Rhodes University Netball Club competed in the University Sport South Africa (USSA) netball championship that ran from 4 to 8 July at the University of Cape Town in the Western Cape.
The Rhodes University Netball Club competed in the University Sport South Africa (USSA) netball championship that ran from 4 to 8 July at the University of Cape Town in the Western Cape.
The tournament consisted of four divisions namely the super league, the premier league, Section B and Section C.
Rhodes played against the Vaal University of Technology Ekhurhuleni on the first day and won by 43-27. On the second day of the tournament, the team played against Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University and the University of Johannesburg and they won both matches 47-34 and 52-30 respectively.
On the following day, they won 33-23 points against the Midrand Graduate Institute, but lost by 31-43 against Durban University of Technology Midlands. Day four of the tournament was also disappointing as the team lost by 28-33 points against the Tshwane University of Technology.
Aviwe Ntshangase, a third year BCom student and the captain of the Rhodes team said she was satisfied with the team’s performance.
“We are a short team so it’s difficult to compete against the taller teams, but we did well under the circumstances. Being in Cape Town was definitely a highlight because the USSA tournament has not been held in Cape Town in a few years.” explained Ntshangase.
Sanelisiwe Sobahle, the team’s coach said the team could have performed better than they did.
“They are a young team and are very comptetitive,” said Sobahle, “We will hit the ground running after this week-long break. We will continue training for the actual netball league and will only take a break in December to return earlier in January next year.”
The team was placed tenth in Section C of the leader board at the end of the tournament. The University of Cape Town (UCT) was competing against the University of the Western Cape (UWC) for first place in the finals.
The score was 23-19 to UCT at half time but UWC fought back during the second-half to win the tournament by 43 points, only one point more than UCT’s 42.
