Netball Superleague: Loughborough Lightning and Team Bath back to winning ways

Lightning have won nine out of 11 Superleague matches, losing only to Thunder and Bath

Team Bath and Loughborough Lightning returned to winning ways with two wins apiece on a double-header Superleague weekend.

Bath, who were unbeaten until last week, produced accomplished wins over Leeds Rhinos and London Pulse.

Lightning head coach Sara Bayman said her side's 76-23 win over Celtic Dragons was the "complete performance".

A professional win over Strathclyde Sirens the day before sees them jump to second in the league.

"Our expectations have risen since the beginning of the season, we're probably competing at a seven out of ten at the moment based on our potential," Bayman said.

"The girls have been laughing at me because after one of the quarters I said to them 'it's good but Dragons scored one more that quarter than in the last quarter', so they said I'm never happy but I am actually happy today - we played well."

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Elsewhere Manchester Thunder won a hard-fought victory over Surrey Storm, before asserting their authority with a dominant display over Rhinos.

Wasps condemned Dragons to their second defeat of the weekend before coming from behind to defeat Saracens Mavericks, who had outwitted Severn Stars in a 54-34 win on Sunday.

The Superleague will return on 25 April for the second half of the season, with games moving from Wakefield's Studio 001 to London's Copperbox.

Bath and Lightning back on top

Donnell Wallam returned from injury to put in an entertaining performance at goal shooter for Rhinos

After Bath's unbeaten run came to an end with a loss to Mavericks in round nine, Anna Stembridge's side produced two professional performances to cement their position at the top of the league.

Rhinos pushed the league-leaders to the whistle but a decisive second quarter was enough to see off Dan Ryan's side, despite the return of his slightly unconventional yet highly effective shooter Donnell Wallam.

Bath followed up with a tidy albeit lacklustre win over eighth place Pulse, as head coach Anna Stembridge said: "We're still building, we're not the finished article - ultimately we want to be better and should be better."

Lightning, who were beaten by defending champions Thunder last time out, ran a close contest with Sirens until half-time but a decisive third quarter saw them score 18 goals to Sirens' five, before racking up an impressive 76 goals against Dragons - the most goals scored in a match by any side this season.

A much-improved but still winless Dragons side were beaten by Wasps, who made it two wins from two the next day by coming from behind in the final quarter against Mavericks to defeat them and remain in the coveted fourth spot in the league.

Thunder looked back to their best as they used every player in their squad to overcome Storm - setting a difficult target by scoring 19 goals in the second quarter - before putting out an impressive team performance against Rhinos to win their second derby match of the season.

Storm had already fallen to defeat at the hands of Sirens the day before - a fourth victory of the season for the Scotland-based outfit - with head coach Karen Atkinson having asked for a "scarily improved" performance after their defeat to Lightning.

Halfway there

With the Superleague at the halfway point, it's time to say goodbye to Wakefield's Studio 001, which has hosted every match so far.

Stars captain Nia Jones captured her side's time at the Yorkshire venue.

Dragons' Clare Jones reflected on her side's difficult first half of the season, but acknowledged the success of the Superleague so far despite taking place during the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, reigning Superleague champions Thunder have been using their time away from court for a bit of light relief.

Results & fixtures

Round 10 and 11

Friday, 9 April

Strathclyde Sirens 35-61 Loughborough Lightning

Leeds Rhinos 46-52 Team Bath

Saturday, 10 April

Surrey Storm 33-46 Strathclyde Sirens

Team Bath 37-27 London Pulse

Celtic Dragons 23-76 Loughborough Lightning

Sunday, 11 April

Surrey Storm 35-52 Manchester Thunder

Celtic Dragons 38-52 Wasps

Severn Stars 34-54 Saracens Mavericks

Monday, 12 April

Wasps 38-34 Saracens Mavericks

Leeds Rhinos 47-66 Manchester Thunder

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