TEAM Northumbria will be chasing Super Eights glory on two fronts next season after the franchise's women secured play-off success.
TN's men finished fifth in volleyball's top flight to cap an impressive Sport Central campaign.
The women finished runners-up to Leeds in Division One - bagging a shot at the Super Eights in a one-off play-off.
TN faced top-flight side Tameside in Manchester for the chance to join their male counterparts at UK volleyball's top table.
A superb straight sets win proved Magda Ropiak and company deserve their place among the sport's elite.
Head coach Dave Goodchild said: "We have trained so hard for this over the past five weeks and it has been a fantastic season for me.
"All credit should go to the girls. They have worked really hard for this and they deserve it.
"I thought Magda was outstanding. She is in a different league and Steph Brandt's serving was excellent."
Northumbria set out to prove a point against their Mancunian opponents and did not fail to deliver.
Precision serving and solid defence gave Tameside no room for manoeuvre as TN eased to a 25-17 first-set win.
It was the same scenario in the second set as the visiting team raced to 11-3 before the Tameside coach took a timeout.
Any resistance was dwindling fast as the North East side pounced on weak offence and showed the opposition how to attack.
Ropiak and Brandt were clinical on offence as the home team struggled to cope with their sheer strength.
This, coupled with Victoria Swindell's passing game, saw TN take the second set comfortably 25-15.
The third set was a scrappy affair as both teams resigned themselves to the inevitable result.
TN, though, eventually eased to a 25-19 third-set success, taking the match 3-0 as they proved just too strong for their Manchester opponents.
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