Severn Stars rounded off a Vitality Netball Superleague double header weekend with a win against Strathclyde Sirens.

The weekend had begun in less positive fashion with defeat at home to London Pulse, 38-53, on Saturday (April 30) as the third-placed side created an unrecoverable lead in the first three quarters.

But Stars bounced back two days later, holding their nerve despite a tense conclusion to take the victory in Glasgow, 49-54.

It didn’t take long to see a Cat Tuivaiti signature move for Stars against London Pulse as she found captain Liana Leota in space with a no look overhead pass, which she then received back and converted.

Stars began to grow into the game in front of the University of Worcester Arena crowd, but with a quick start and clinical conversions, the visitors led 14-10 after the first quarter.

Tuivaiti continued to inject her flair into the game, finding Bethan Dyke with another no look long pass, who then drew the defence in and threaded the ball into fellow shooter Paige Reed.

With Pulse extending their lead, Tuivaiti used her strength to hold off the defence, bringing the score to 15-20.

A long ball from Pulse’s mid court was cut out by defender Summer Artman and a quick reaction from Lucy Herdman saw a second turnover for Stars minutes later, but it was Pulse that led at the interval, 27-21.

Pulse began to take control of the game in the third quarter, and their shooters continued to be clinical.

Goal attack Reed continued to link up well with substitute Isabelle Eaton as she produced a spin off the back of her defender to then receive the ball in from Leota and score. The quarter saw Pulse extend the lead, 28-43.

The away side didn’t take their foot off the gas as a Stars attack was turned over and a faultless passage of play between the Pulse mid court saw the ball in the net.

Within the final few minutes, Eaton began to find her flow, converting three consecutive goals, but it was not enough to reduce the deficit, with the match ending 38-53 to Pulse.

Stars’ second game of the bank holiday weekend saw the team make the long trip to Glasgow’s Emirates Arena to play Strathclyde Sirens on Monday (May 2), with both teams desperate for a win.

After an intense start, Stars were able to take an early lead over the home side, with the quarter ending 10-15. In the second quarter Sirens began to respond to a flowing Stars side, but it wasn’t enough with Stars still edging the lead at half-time, 26-29.

Stars extended their lead to seven goals in the third quarter, but Sirens were quick to take positive action and pulled the game back to within three, 39-42 to Stars and all was set up for a tight deciding last quarter.

The final 15 minutes saw Stars fight to maintain their lead, but Sirens fought back, coming within one goal of the away side several times. But it was the Stars players who maintained their composure to see out the win, 49-54.