Opening night of ANZ Championship Pre-Season

Thrilling draw concludes opening night of ANZ Championship Pre-Season

A thrilling draw between the Adelaide Thunderbirds and the Central Pulse provided a fitting climax to the opening night of the ANZ Championship Pre-Season Summer Shootout at Sydney’s Netball Central.

After Vixens, Fever, Swifts and Firebirds won the first four matches played at the new Netball Central facility at Sydney Olympic Park, the Pulse scored two goals in the last 30 seconds of their match to tie up the match at 42-all seconds before the final whistle.

Reigning premiers the Melbourne Vixens looked a bit rusty in the opening quarter of their match against the Kia Magic. But they were quick to rediscover the form that took them to last year’s title by running out 45-33 winners in the first game on the Show Court.

Hosts the NSW Swifts also had to work hard for their 58-47 win over the Northern Mystics. The Mystics led by two goals at half-time but the Swifts took control of the match in the third term with Sharni Layton making her presence felt in defence.

The Queensland Firebirds opened their campaign with a 58-44 victory over the Tactix while West Coast Fever gave Stacey Rosman a winning start to her coaching career with a 54-51 victory over the Southern Steel.

Netball Central has been given a rousing thumbs up after the opening session as a sold-out crowd filled the state-of-the art venue to watch the world’s best netballers take to the court for the first time in 2015.

Netball Central was officially opened earlier in the day by the New South Wales Sports Minister Stuart Ayres along with Netball NSW President Wendy Archer and CEO Carolyn Campbell before the stars of the show took to the courts.

Session two on Saturday morning begins at at 9am. The afternoon session starts at 2.30pm. All games being played on Saturday will be modified matches of two 15-minute halves.

SESSION 1 RESULTS
Melbourne Vixens 45 def Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic 33
West Coast Fever 54 def Southern Steel 51
NSW Swifts 58 def Northern Mystics 47
Queensland Firebirds 58 def Tactix 44
Adelaide Thunderbirds 42 drew with Central Pulse 42

SESSION 2 DRAW (SATURDAY 7 FEBRUARY)
9am: Swifts v Pulse, Vixens v Tactix
10am: Fever v Thunderbirds, Firebirds v Magic
11am: Mystics v Vixens, Steel v Pulse
Noon: Thunderbirds v Tactix

The full draw is available here and the ANZ Championship Twitter and Facebook pages will be updating results over the tournament.

ENDS

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