The defending champions, the University of the Free State Kovsies, have secured a home semi-final in the 2025 Varsity Netball after finishing at the top of the log in the round-robin phase.
On Sunday and Monday, the five-time champions stayed on course for a possible sixth title with back-to-back wins. A helping hand from their traditional rivals, the North-West University Eagles, also allowed them to sneak into first place and secure a semi-final in Bloemfontein.
On Sunday, at the Wits Sports Hall in Johannesburg, the Kovsies beat the Nelson Mandela University Madibaz 69-55 in the penultimate round to keep their momentum going. The following day, they notched up their sixth win with a 55-47 victory over the University Stellenbosch Maties at the same venue. At that stage, they were still on track to finish second, which would also have guaranteed a home semi-final.
However, in the very next game, NWU stunned the then-unbeaten University of Johannesburg with a 50-42 win, which saw the Eagles climb to third on the log. This result pushed UFS into first place. The Kovsies’ only defeat in the group stages came in the second round, when they were edged 53-50 by UJ in Stellenbosch.
The semi-finals will be played on Monday. UJ, who finished second, don’t have a home venue available and will instead face NWU at the NWU-Mahikeng Great Hall at 17:00 in the first semi-final.
The Kovsies, in turn, will take on the fourth-placed Maties at the Callie Human Hall in Bloemfontein, with the game set to get underway at 19:00. – MORGAN PIEK
