Hope for redemption

With the recent 4-0 defeat still fresh in our minds, we travelled to Winterswijk today to take on Wivoc. To prepare, we had a nice brunch at Frank's house, who had bought us some tasty Kaiser rolls and eggs. Because we apparently didn't look very awake, Jorrit, who came downstairs halfway through our breakfast, decently hungover, decided to put on some uplifting music, also known among connoisseurs as “grafherrie”. Once awake, we noticed that seven people were supposed to join us for brunch, but only six were sitting at the table: our Frenchman had decided to arrive 30 minutes Frenchably late. Besides the fact that there was no coffee and we had to share three glasses for water between the seven of us, we were at least well fed to take on our opponents.

The quality of the hall in Winterswijk was a pleasant surprise, and we were able to add something extra in the form of our rudely large JBL speaker. The warm-up could begin. To the delight of some and the dismay of others, our match ball turned out to be a Gala ball. Three guesses who was most happy about that.

The first set started with some confusion. The score was kept live, but then the starting line-up also had to be entered into the system. We didn't notice anything and, because we started with the serve, everyone was already in their default positions and the libero had already switched with the middle player. We quickly got into position and the match could begin.

We always seem to need a bit of time to get going, because the first set didn't go very smoothly. Although we didn't necessarily play badly, we could certainly have done better. In the end, we lost 25-23.

The second set went a little better. We took the set 22-25. We've already scored one more point than our opponents. We’re winning this match, clearly.

In the third set, we suddenly didn't understand how substitutions worked anymore. Towards the end, there was a double substitution. A new setter and opposite entered the court. The setter was told he was mid front. Or no, left front. Which was it? Lars went to check on the laptop. We decided to go for left front, which meant that the opposite player had to stand on right back, with the opponent serving. Then we got the point, and realised that the opposite had to serve. So the setter was back on left front... Oh well, as long as the referee doesn't notice. Despite the confusion, we still won the set 22-25. We went into the third set with a 1-2 lead. Were we going to win our second league match?

In the fourth set, we received a gift from our opponents. They were trailing 1-2, with exciting set scores, the perfect moment to put their newest player in the pass, who clearly had little volleyball experience. This gave him playing time and made it a little easier for us to finish the match. That's what we call a win-win situation. The highlight of this set was a specific serve by our beloved Berk. The case was that the lines on the court also include a 7-metre line. However, where this is normally a double and thin line, this was just a normal line that looked exactly like the back line. Berk gets the serve, walks back until he sees the first thick white line, and from there, full of confidence, takes the serve. The ref immediately called for a foot fault. We had to quickly point out the second thick white line to an indignant Berk, because he was convinced that there was no foot fault. Fortunately, it didn't matter, because we won the last set by a comfortable 16-25. The first win of the competition is in the bag!

Stay tuned!