By LIAM TWOMEY
VU WESTERN Lightning produced a dominating performance against Yarra Valley Grammar Ariels to secure a 15-goal win in the Victorian Netball League.
After jumping out to a five-goal lead at quarter time, the Lightning increased the margin at every quarter to secure the 47-32 win.
Sophie Gunn was a standout around goals for VU, shooting 35 from her 43 attempts.
She was well supported by Erin McCarthy who scored 12.
VU coach Matt Hills was rapt with the four quarter effort from his team.
“It was a really solid effort,” he said.
“Defensively we continue to set the benchmark in the competition. It was another really good defensive effort and in attack we are continuing to build.
“It was only the second game that the two goalers, McCarthy and Sophie Gunn, had played together so that is going to take a bit of time. We are now hoping to have our other senior goalie Meg Fitzpatrick back for the next round.
“To have won all those games without probably our best performing and most consistent goaler is great for our depth going forward.”
The result sees VU maintain its spot on top of the VNL ladder with eight wins and just the one loss for the season.
This week Lightning will take on UB Ballarat Pride with Hills highlighting a number of areas he thinks his team can improve.
“Certainly our consistency with the ball in hand and continuing to be able to make sure we get more volume of shots per quarter,” he said.
“Defensively, we continue to develop other forms of defence. We are probably well known in the competition for our zone defence but we are now looking to continue to build other forms of defence that we can switch to and keep the opposition on their toes.
“We still have some work to do. To be in this position is fantastic and to have won seven in a row is a great result. But if you look at the ladder with the top few teams, one or two losses and we are back to third or fourth.
“We are very much looking to consolidate and make finals and secondly we are pushing hard now for a top two finish.”
