Van Dyk provides Magic start

Irene van Dyk is one satisfied netballer.
Her Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic side scored a convincing 60-51 win over Diamonds in round one of the National Bank Cup and she opened her season with a perfect scoring record.
Van Dyk nailed 48 goals from 48 attempts in the competition opener on Saturday, declaring it "an absolutely fantastic way to start the season".
She also took home the player of the match award for her efforts, to the delight of the rowdy capacity crowd at Tauranga's Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre.
"I was really happy, really stoked," said van Dyk, who spends up to an hour a day perfecting her craft.
Never one to take all the glory, van Dyk heaped praise on her fellow teammates and the "beautiful ball" she received from her attacking players around the circle.
"I wouldn't be half the player I am without the players around me. I can only step up when my team mates do."
While her shooting may have been spot-on, van Dyk said Magic's overall performance, despite being dominating, was far from 100 per cent.
"We didn't play the perfect netball but we'll take the win and work on some things that didn't come off, like our flow through court at times. There were a lot of things we tried that didn't really work that well. We started playing defensive netball which is always dodgy."
The round one victory, a repeat of Magic's clash with Diamonds last year, was nevertheless most satisfying, the winning margin depriving the visitors of even a bonus point.
"At times Diamonds fought back but I was really proud of how we stuck to our guns and played ball by ball," said van Dyk.
Magic certainly looked extremely calm throughout the sometimes frantic encounter, making a conscious effort not to force the pass in to the shooting circle, happy to play the ball back when required and start the approach again.
Diamonds, under pressure from a solid defensive team effort by Magic, struggled to get anything much going and found themselves unable to put the home side off their stride.
Magic were up 18-16 after a tight first quarter and it was the second spell which proved the clincher for the home side as they got their momentum going and prevented Diamonds from doing the same, slowing the visitors' on attack to good effect.
With a halftime lead of 34-26, Magic were in control and maintained the intensity and momentum to further fluster Diamonds in the third quarter and have them scrambling for a bonus point by the final spell.
Diamonds may have had more impact had they injected some extra height into the defensive end to add to the efforts of Australian Kathryn Harby-Williams who did her best to gee up her side at times. Captain Anna Rowberry didn't look 100 percent comfortable on her recovering knee but said after the match that while she still had some pain it was "coming along".
While Magic had talked about every possible combination Diamonds might throw at them, success ultimately came down to focussing on their own game and playing to their own strengths, said van Dyk.
Magic certainly appear to be on track after a disruptive build-up and captain Amigene Metcalfe said she was pleased with the standard set in the first match. With a few new players in the side and the return of former Silver Fern Noeline Taurua to the coaching role, there's a revitalised look and feel about the Magic side and van Dyk said every team member was making a valuable contribution. ``We're one whole team, there's no division.'' Out and About _ P13