Kovsies may have cemented their place in the Varsity Netball semifinals, but the Bloemfontein side has no intention of using their last group game on Sunday against NMMU to rest key players.
Coach Burta de Kock’s side beat Maties 56-33 in the Callie Human centre on the Kovsie campus on Monday evening to not just reserve their place amongst the top four teams, but also to end Maties’ dream of reaching the play-offs.
Now only one group game, against NMMU, remains for Kovsies and although they are already certain of playing in the semifinals on Monday, De Kock still sees the game against the Madibaz as one that her side must win.
“We won’t back down now that we’ve reached the semifinals. We will still field our strongest team and try and beat NMMU. There is a good chance that we might meet them in the semi’s and if so it will give us a boost if we can beat them on Sunday,” De Kock said.
Kovsies will have to make due without their three Proteas players, Maryka Holtzhausen, Karla Mostert and Adéle Niemand, who will all shift their focus to the national side for the coming triangular series against England and Trinidad and Tobago. They will be sorely missed by die Bloemfontein based outfit, but De Kock is confident that the remaining players will put up their hands in their absence.
“Yes, their absence is a big blow for us, but their loss is one that we’ve always awaited. It is for that reason that we experimented with so many different combinations, especially against Ikeys two weeks ago. Now the players that remain need to get some more game time together and our aim is to use the NMMU game to give them exactly that,” De Kock said.
Kovsies will also still be able to call on the experience of veterans like Ané Botha and Lauren-Lee Christians. Both were invited to the Proteas national trials over the weekend, but weren’t included in the final squad.
“We are at the same time happy and sad that Ané and Lauren-Lee did not get pulled into the Proteas structures. It is sad because they are so deserving of it, but we are happy that we still have them in our midst for the coming semis and hopefully the final,” De Kock concluded.
