Denekamp v3

For our re-rematch against Mare Volley we were invited to inspect their hall again. The inspection was scheduled at the amazing time of 19.00 which meant dinner was planned for half past four. As this was not feasible to fit next to our main construction day-jobs, Jorrit and Sjoerd prepared wraps to go which we ate in the canteen of Noord-Deurningen. There the local bartender even supplemented our dinner with borrelnootjes. As coaches we were supported by Martin and Lorenz.

While we had a bit of a rough start, again being limited by the height of the roof, we succeeded in reeling in the first set. As the serving room on both sides of the hall were completely different, we assumed the second set would be easier. Now we would have more room for our serve, which we could use to increase the pressure on the defending team and similar to a pinballmachine aim indirectly for the roof. We could not have been more wrong. While we should have gained an advantage, we let the second set split away more quickly than a bar of soap in a prison shower.

Between sets we took a hard reset and were able to recover, going neck-to-neck again in the third set. With some extension, we were able to reel in the third set again and with our fighting spirit flowing again, we were very confident to reel in the victory during the fourth set. But much like the second set, we were struggling in the fourth set again. We let them get ahead and were not able to make up the difference again. 

The game felt like a large deja-vu compared to our first match-up, where we took the fifth set on our previous visit to Denekamp. We went back into the field, ready to repeat history but the gear just didn’t fit together as well as they did at the end of 2025. Our third and final match against Mare ended up in a loss. With that, they climbed from last to second-last, which they would remain for only a short time before returning to their comfortable spot at the bottom of the league. This match has given us a lot of food for thought and proven we still can grow as a team. 

Brawling with Denekamp once more

Turned out a loss for gents four

The hall

was small

But we have much more in store