Watch coverage from Team Bath Arena on Monday live on Sky Sports Mix, Arena and Main Event from 6.45pm
Tuesday 29 January 2019 15:13, UK
Anna Stembridge says Team Bath will not be "underestimating" Surrey Storm on Monday night, despite their visitors arriving to Team Bath Arena without a win so far this season.
Head coach Stembridge is eager for her side to remain focused and show their home fans exactly what they're made of in Round 3, live on Sky Sports.
"We are super excited for our first home game of the season, nothing beats playing in the Team Bath Arena and we can't wait to see our home fans again," said Stembridge.
"Storm have lost their first two matches but they certainly cannot be underestimated, especially as they will have their two South African players [Sigi Burger and Shadine Van Der Merwe] back.
"We know they will definitely give us another big test but we are looking forward to it."
The home side have set out their early season stall with back-to-back victories over Celtic Dragons and Strathclyde Sirens.
Bath were first onto court on the opening day of the season and instantly Serena Guthrie's impact was plain for all to see. Guthrie lifted those around her with fellow mid-court player Imogen Allison taking the player-of-the-match accolade.
Against Sirens, with Guthrie and fellow international Eboni Usoro-Brown away, Allison continued where she left off at Super 10. She wore the captain's armband and led the side by example.
Overall, head coach Stembridge was content with their Round-2 victory as they overcame a strong fourth-quarter fightback from their hosts.
"Sirens is always a hard place to go but we produced a performance of real grit and character," Stembridge said.
"It was really impressive to see our young squad step up and show such strength and composure, it felt like a real step forward compared to previous seasons."
From a Surrey Storm perspective the opening two matches of the season have not delivered the same level of return. Instead, back-to-back losses have left them at the foot of the Supeleague table.
Storm are under the guidance of Mikki Austin as their new director of netball - her presence is felt on court as a player as well as off it.
At Super 10 the team suffered from the early-season nerves as the young side could not get above a 67 per cent shooting percentage. The side found themselves with an 11-point deficit to try and claw back at half-time and ended falling 56-38 to Sirens.
In their opening home game, Storm pushed Mavericks for as long as they could before Kat Ratnapala's outfit accelerated away in the third quarter.
Austin, who confirmed Sigi Burger and Shadine Van Der Merwe are fit and available, is aware of the challenge that is in front of them on Monday evening at Team Bath Arena.
"Preparations have been going well. Obviously we had the weekend off last weekend due to the Quad Series, so it was nice to have a little bit of down time," he told Sky Sports.
"This week we've had our South Africans back in our training environment with Sigi and Shadine so that's been amazing and a big boost for the girls.
"Team Bath have got a strong line-up this year with a couple of Roses in there with Eboni and Serena. They've also bolstered their shooting line-up with a couple of Australian imports so they're certainly putting down their marker in terms of where they want to finish in this league.
"It will just be about who's going to consistency put in a solid performance for 60 minutes and then it will be the better team on the day."
While Bath have a 100 per cent record with their perfect starts, for Austin and Storm there is ground to be made up but Austin has been doing her homework
She said: "Without giving too much of our game play away… I think that Bath are pretty renowned for their slick plays helped by their ball speed and the set-ups that they do for each other in and around the circle. Obviously they've got a pretty strong defensive circle as well.
"So I've gone away and done our video analysis and had a look at them and their structures and we've certainly got things to take in to try and combat that."
Watch Team Bath take on Surrey Storm in the Vitality Netball Superleague, live on Sky Sports Mix, Arena, and Main Event from 6.45pm on Monday. Also, Sky Sports will be showing every game of the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup in July.
