On Monday night UCT will take on Cape rivals Maties in Round Five of the Varsity Netball tournament.
The UCT women returned home this week as Monday’s game will take place in Stellenbosch; much closer than their previous two games which took place at the NWU-Pukke campus.
UCT captain Fortuna Bagula made herself available in the midst of a busy training calendar to chat about the upcoming game.
She said the team are looking forward to the Cape derby.
“We’re excited. I mean we know it’s going to be a tough game, but we’re excited. We’re going to give our all.” It goes without saying that the team are looking to bounce back from a winless first four games, and they are hoping that a triumph over Maties will break that ice,” she said.
The Stellenbosch side are currently lying in fourth position on the overall log with 10 points, having lost their first two games against NWU-Pukke and Tuks. However, the team are now coming off a 51-42 win against NMMU in Round Three, and a 74-24 win against VUT in Round Four.
UCT, on the other hand, lost their first match against NMMU 16-45 and their second match against Kovsies 17-71. In Round Three they improved significantly with a 31-66 loss against NWU-Pukke and had a huge performance against UJ in the previous round which they narrowly lost 40-62.
Playing closer to home will undoubtedly have an impact on the UCT team, as a lack of support haunted them the last two rounds.
“I think we’re all pretty happy because we don’t have to miss out on class or anything” said Bagula. “And also, we can have people come and support us – and that will be fantastic.”
Round Five will also be easier on the team as they played three matches in succession last week, whereas the only match this week is the one on Monday.
The UCT vs Maties game kicks off at 18:00 on Monday, September 29, and will not be broadcast on Supersport.
By Megan Kinnaird
