By Stephanie Smarrelli
The Melbourne Vixens are through to the Grand Final and will face the Adelaide Thunderbirds next weekend at Melbourne’s John Cain Arena with their dream of back-to-back premierships within reach.
In front of a roaring 7,383-strong crowd the Vixens powered through to the Grand Final defeating Fever 62 to 51.
Both sides started the match clinically, with neither side giving the other an inch, they traded goals until Rudi Ellis stepped up to the challenge and got the first win for either side on the board.
Her well-timed deflection giving the Vixens the upper hand, from there it was a quarter full of defensive prowess from the Vixens with the work of Jo Weston and Ellis paying dividends while Kate Moloney and Kate Eddy suffocated the Fever midcourters.
Down the other end of the court Vixens goalers Sophie Garbin and Kiera Austin continued to keep the scoreboard ticking.
With momentum with the Vixens, Fever head coach Dan Ryan called a time out to calm his side but it did little to help, a few missed goals under the post from the Fever shooters allowed the Vixens to capitalise and lead by six goals at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started in similar fashion before Sasha Glasgow was able to get her fingertips to the ball defensively but Fever were unable to score from the gain, igniting the Vixens’ fans at John Cain Arena.
The Melbourne side continued to push Fever defensively with Ellis’ footwork a particular standout enabling her to interrupt Fever’s feeds into Romelda Aiken-George.
Ruth Aryang came up with a deflection during the Power Five for Fever which Aiken-George was able to convert to narrow the margin before Glasgow nailed a couple of Suncorp Super Shots finally breaking through the Vixens’ defensive wall.
While Fever continued to battle, their centre pass to goal rate sat down at 62 per cent and they had only been able to register one gain during the opening half.
Fever continued to attack but the Vixens were too good.
The Vixens had well and truly stamped their authority by half time leading by nine goals with Garbin adding an exclamation point right on half time as she slotted a layup.
Aiken-George tried to fire up her teammates early in the third term with her own layup served to her via a bullet pass from Teague-Neeld but the Vixens continued to surge.
With the margin escaping out to 12-goals Ryan called the troops in again, switching up their defensive end for the fourth time during the match.
Off the back of the change, Kadie-Ann Dehaney was able to register Fever’s first gain in the defensive end, and they converted just ahead of the Power Five.
Aiken-George continued to be a force in the goal circle slotting her 10,000th national league goal but the Vixens continued to charge.
Leading by 17-goals at the end of the third quarter the Vixens energy on the court was electric.
Fever were able to narrow the margin in the opening minutes of the final quarter, making the most of a couple of defensive gains from Fran Williams and Kadie-Anne Dehaney.
The Vixens called a timeout as Fever began to mount a late charge, head coach Di Honey bringing Emily Mannix into the game. Mannix immediately had an impact with an intercept.
Fever's Liv Wilkinson helped to narrow the margin in the final Power Five but it was too little too late for the West Coast Fever.
The Melbourne Vixens soaring into the Grand Final with an 11-goal win.
Post match, head coach Di Honey was thrilled with her side's performance after the match.
"We had a really good training week, a good vibe was there," Di Honey said.
"I felt tonight they would go out and produce that sort of netball that has been missing for a couple of weeks.
"It was so good to see the real connection on court, the delivery and execution was so much better than it has been, I'm absolutely rapt we've made the Grand Final."
Meanwhile, Fever head coach Dan Ryan was disappointed by the loss but focusing on the positives.
"For us to get so close, it wasn't our day today, not our performance but we certainly have grown in a number of different ways," Ryan said.
"We'll celebrate what's been a tough season, third place and playing in a Prelim Final is nothing to scoff at in this competition, five other teams wanted that, they didn't get it we did.
"Then we'll go away and see where we can improve."
