| 2017 Netball Superleague season | |
|---|---|
| League | Netball Superleague |
| Number of teams | 10 |
| Champions |  Wasps |
| Runners-up |  Loughborough Lightning |
| Season MVP | Emma Dovey (Manchester Thunder) [1] |
The 2017 Netball Superleague season (known for sponsorship reasons as the Vitality Netball Superleague) was the twelfth season of the Netball Superleague. The league was won by Wasps. In the grand final Wasps defeated regular season winners, Loughborough Lightning. [1] [2] [3]
The 2017 season saw the number of teams expand from eight to ten. In June 2016 England Netball announced that Yorkshire Jets had lost their place in the league. At the same time, they also announced that three new franchises, Severn Stars, Scottish Sirens and Wasps would be joining. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Loughborough Lightning finished top of the table after winning seventeen of their eighteen matches. Wasps were the only team to beat Lightning in the regular season. [9] [10]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Loughborough Lightning (I) | 18 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 1104 | 882 | +222 | 51 | Qualified for the Final Four |
| 2 | Wasps (I) | 18 | 14 | 0 | 4 | 1068 | 863 | +205 | 42 | |
| 3 | Manchester Thunder (I) | 18 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 1016 | 941 | +75 | 39 | |
| 4 | Team Bath (I) | 18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 892 | 821 | +71 | 33 | |
| 5 | Surrey Storm (I) | 18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 1077 | 996 | +81 | 30 | |
| 6 | Scottish Sirens | 18 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 988 | 963 | +25 | 27 | |
| 7 | Hertfordshire Mavericks (I) | 18 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 897 | 1002 | −105 | 18 | |
| 8 | Severn Stars (I) | 18 | 5 | 0 | 13 | 847 | 993 | −146 | 15 | |
| 9 | Team Northumbria (I) | 18 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 884 | 1068 | −184 | 9 | |
| 10 | Celtic Dragons | 18 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 852 | 1096 | −244 | 6 |
The two play-off semi-finals, the 3rd/4th place play-off and the grand final were all played at Barclaycard Arena on the Final Four weekend. The Final Four was originally due to be hosted at Manchester Arena but was switched to the Barclaycard Arena following the Manchester Arena bombing. [9] [15]
| 10 June 2017 | Loughborough Lightning | 66–45 | Team Bath | Barclaycard Arena [9] [16] | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 16–10, 29–22, 52–32, 66–45 | ||||||
| 10 June 2017 | Wasps | 63–48 | Manchester Thunder | Barclaycard Arena [9] |
| 11 June 2017 14:30 | Manchester Thunder | 56–48 | Team Bath | Barclaycard Arena [1] [17] [18] | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 17–11, 28–25, 42–33, 56–48 | ||||||
| ? | Chelsea Lewis  | |||||
| 11 June 2017 17:00 [10] | Wasps | 55–51 | Loughborough Lightning | Barclaycard Arena [1] [2] [3] [19] Umpires: Gary Burgess and Louise Travis | Sky Sports | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 16–15, 27–26, 41–40, 55–51 | |||||||
| Rachel Dunn 43/47 (91%) Natalie Haythornthwaite 12/13 (92%) | Peace Proscovia 40/43 (93%) Vanessa Walker 11/16 (69%) | ||||||
Samantha May, also known as Sam May, is a former Australian netball player who played for Hertfordshire Mavericks, Wasps and Loughborough Lightning in the Netball Superleague, featuring in five grand finals in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, winning three times. In Australia, May played for Sydney Swifts and AIS Canberra Darters in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy and for New South Wales Swifts in the ANZ Championship.
The Netball Super League is a top level netball league featuring teams from the United Kingdom. The league is organised by England Netball but features teams based in England, Wales and Scotland. The league was commenced playing at the 2005–06 season, replacing the Super Cup as the elite netball competition in England. From 2016-21 the league was sponsored by VitalityHealth and, as a result, it was known as the Vitality Netball Superleague. Since 2022 it has been known as the Netball Super League.
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The 2017 Netball Superleague Grand Final featured Wasps and Loughborough Lightning. Wasps won the Netball Superleague title in their debut season, beating Lightning 55–51 in the grand final. Wasps led by one goal at the start of the final quarter, having dominated Lightning in the mid-court. Wasps centre, Bongiwe Msomi, was subsequently named player of the match. Wasps attacking combination of Rachel Dunn and Natalie Haythornthwaite proved too strong for Lightning.
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