Sky Live: Easter Sunday Superleague
Coverage on the Sky Sports YouTube channel gets underway at 3.45pm with Surrey Storm vs Severn Stars before Bath face Mavs
Sunday 21 April 2019 19:30, UK
Superleague's Big Easter Weekend continues on Sunday with two more live games on Sky Sports, including Team Bath's clash with Saracens Mavericks.
All of the top five were victorious on Saturday, setting up Sunday's Round 16 fixtures perfectly, with Wasps and Manchester Thunder needing a win to guarantee their top four place, but, behind them, the battle between Team Bath, Loughborough Lightning, and Saracens Mavericks looks set to go all the way.
We run the rule over what to expect from Sunday's games, featuring back-to-back action live on Sky Sports from Wasps' Ricoh Arena.
Tamsin's One to watch - Team Bath vs Saracens Mavericks, Sky Sports Mix & Action, 5.45pm
The game for me is the Mavs-Bath fixture - if you want to talk about pressure, I think that it all rides on this game.
If Mavs want to make top four, they want to have their destiny in their hands, and this game will decide whether Bath will end up losing five or six games, or whether Mavs end up losing six or seven. This game is a test for both sides, and it will come down to who can stay calm, who has done their homework, and who can deliver.
Mavs have put themselves in a position where they have to go out and win. Now that can do two things for a team - it can make them play absolutely amazingly, or it can do completely the opposite.
It will be a really interesting game, and the match-ups are perfect. Razia Quashie and Jo Trip will relish playing against Kim Commane and Sophie Drakeford-Lewis.
Mavs will get a lot of ball, but it's what they do with it. They were quite costly in the Wasps game on Monday night, and without Gabby Marshall now, they're struggling with the lack of changes that they have got on the bench.
It's a strange one for Mavericks, because literally three weeks ago they were sitting pretty in the top three, everybody thought that it was done and dusted - and how quickly it can change. It's in their hands whether they can pick themselves up and beat Bath and take their opportunities.
Surrey Storm vs Severn Stars, Sky Sports Mix & Arena, 3.45pm
Sixth and seventh meet in our first live game of the season, and while both teams have no chance of making the top four, there have been positives in recent weeks.
Stars stunned Thunder last weekend, while it was just a fortnight ago that Storm halted Loughborough's winning run at seven - however, both teams suffered Easter Saturday defeats, and know they will need to bounce back with a second game in 48 hours.
The pair are competing to finish the season as the best of the rest, and Storm coach Mikki Austin is determined to finish her first season on a high.
"After this weekend, we've got two games left and that's it. I can't believe that! It's that old wives' tale of not wishing your life away," Austin told the Vitality Netball Superleague website.
"But it's 'shoulda woulda coulda'… had we have found our form marginally earlier, what would we have done? I don't think we've ever lacked form in the whole, I think it's just been tying that together for 60 minutes.
Loughborough Lightning v Manchester Thunder
Glasgow's Emirates Arena plays host to another thriller as Lightning and Thunder go head-to-head with plenty on the line.
The pair were both big winners over the bottom two on Saturday; a full-strength Loughborough scrapping their way past a battling Sirens, while a much-changed Thunder were far too strong for Pulse with a huge 29-goal win.
Lightning know they need to win to stay clear of fifth-placed Mavericks, who play Bath later in the day - any slip-ups will allow Mavs to draw level with a victory and move into the top four as a result of their far superior goal difference.
Karen Greig was happy to rotate her squad for the win over Pulse, and saw Rebecca Airey and Ellie Cardwell give her plenty to think about with starring roles - whether Joyce Mvula and Emma Dovey come back into the team remains to be seen.
A win for Thunder will secure a top four place as they continue to chase a first Superleague title since 2014.
Strathclyde Sirens vs London Pulse
The league's bottom two meet in Glasgow with pride at stake and a place in this year's Fast5 All-Stars still up for grabs if either of them can win each of their final three games.
Both teams have picked up just two wins this season, and Sirens will take heart from a competitive performance against Lightning on Saturday, when the game only got away from them in the closing stages.
Pulse will be seeking a huge improvement after they failed to get going in defeat to Thunder, and they will be gunning for revenge having lost to Sirens at the Copper Box earlier this season.
Sirens' talented young shooter Emma Barrie has impressed in recent weeks, and will go up against England captain Ama Agbeze, who has returned from injury and - despite a heavy defeat to Thunder - impressed watching Roses coach Tracey Neville.
Wasps vs Celtic Dragons
The back-to-back defending champions are very much back in the groove. Wasps have won their last four since a one-goal defeat to Manchester Thunder, and they will secure a third successive trip to the semi-finals if they can beat Dragons.
Once again, the Welsh outfit put together a spirited performance to run one of the top four contenders close, with Mavericks eventually holding off the Dragon threat in the final quarter on Saturday.
Wasps won the first meeting this season and have won all five previous match-ups, and they'll know that a sixth will secure them a top four place.
Mel Mansfield has a deep squad and she may look at changes having used her full complement of players in the win over Surrey Storm, while Dragons can secure a Fast5 spot with a win.
Watch the Vitality Netball Superleague's Big Easter Weekend on Sky Sports from 3.45pm on Sunday, when Surrey Storm take on Severn Stars before Team Bath face-off against Saracens Mavericks. Also, Sky Sports will be showing every match of the Vitality Netball World Cup 2019 from July, 12-21.
