Our cup match jounrey continues

On the 18th of December, Heren 1 played another round in the cup match against a promotie class team - Dros-Alterno HS 3. It was a perfect opportunity to have a game before meeting Time-Out 75 HS1 for the last match of the calendar year.

The game began well, and we had a good lead, we had a good passing, were scoring well, however struggled in blocking and defending. We managed to make things especially interesting, allowing our opponents to tie the score at 23:23. This is the type of suspenseful game Wybren has said to like. Fortunately, our nerves of steel were strong, and we showed our power in front of the great home crowd that had gathered on that lovely Wednesday evening, winning 26:24.

The second set also began well. We made some changes in the starting line-up to allow everybody to work and better themselves. Similarly to the first set, we were doing good, except for in defense and blocking, which we did not manage to get a hang off. We were really struggling with their line-hitting and it felt a bit like we haven’t seen that before. Regardless of our weak-point, we finished the second set with a comfortable 25:18 win.

In the third set, we were a bit too comfortable and felt like we already had the victory in our hands, which was far from the truth. Throughout the whole set we were trailing by 2-3 points and struggled to bridge that gap. We were unable to score and defend. As a last resort, our setter, Oskar, was substituted to play outside. However, we were unable to make a change and lost the third 19:25.

We were not feeling like playing 5 sets, having an important game ahead of ourselves on Saturday. We made the necessary changes in our game and mindset to win the match. Throughout the whole set we were attacking and defending better. After previous 3 sets, we were finally starting to get a hang of how to defend against them. The opponents were not far from us however the point difference was enough to grant us a solid 25:20 win in the fourth set and to win us the game 3:1.

We played quite a mediocre game, maybe just enough to the opponent’s level, however need to step up our game if we want to beat Time-Out on Saturday. It won’t be an easy match but it is for us to lose, therefore we have to unleash the beast and secure some points before stuffing ourselves with all the goods over the holiday season.