Netball: Magic faces sudden-death semifinal

Laura Langman of the Mystics (left) secures the ball ahead of Kia Magic's Casey Kopua in the New Zealand Conference final played in Auckland on Monday.

Kia Magic are just one game away from contesting the 2015 ANZ Championship grand final.

The Waikato-Bay of Plenty team, coached by Australian Julie Fitzgerald, will host the NSW Swifts in Hamilton on Sunday night in a sudden-death semifinal between the two form teams.

The Magic qualified to host Sunday's eliminator after a thrilling 57-54 victory over the Mystics in the New Zealand Conference final played in Auckland on Monday night.

The Swifts lost to the Queensland Firebirds to draw the short straw to travel to Hamilton but Fitzgerald is not reading too much into the loss.

"Up until halftime the game was really close and then the Swifts thought it was out of their reach and they rested their main players," she said. "So it is hard to gauge too much from that at all except have a good look at the first half."

Magic played the Swifts back in March at Tauranga's ASB Arena, going down 43-48.

A young, inexperienced Magic team, without ace shooter Jo Harten, put up quite a fight against the international-laden Swifts.

"There are possibly a few learnings to take from that and we gained a bit of confidence despite losing narrowly," Fitzgerald said. "But round two is an awful long time ago. The Swifts have really run into some form since then. We have improved since then but in the last five or six weeks the Swifts have been quite dominating."

Fitzgerald (pictured) is proud of the development of her young players, six of whom will still be under 21 next year.

"When you look at that game on Monday night, their composure under such pressure was pretty awesome. But I am also incredibly proud of the older players, in particular Grace [Rasmussen], Jo [Harten] and Leana [de Bruin], who have been out on court with them all year. The guidance and leadership they have given them has been pretty amazing as well."

The return of inspirational leader Casey Kopua after a serious knee injury was another telling factor in the Magic getting past the Mystics.

"I didn't put her out there with the intent of her playing the whole game but she actually got better as the game wore on," Fitzgerald said. "It was a very, very physical contest and she stood up to it so well."

Fitzgerald, who signed an extension to her contract to go through to the end of 2016, is positive about the Magic's future. "I do believe we are starting to build a really true high-performance environment and to continue working on that is quite exciting."

2015 ANZ Championship semifinals

Kia Magic v NSW Swifts
Date: Sunday, June 14
Venue: Claudelands Arena, Hamilton
Time: 7.10pm

Queensland Firebirds v Northern Mystics
Date: Sunday, June 14
Venue: Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
Time: 2.15pm (NZ time)