The women of Visser Assen/Sudosa-Desto again failed to win their first match in the championship pool. The volleyball players from Assen had to recognize their superiority with 3-1 in Djopzz VC Zwolle Top Volleyball.
,,So close and yet so far away”, coach Mark Afman sighed after the defeat. ,,Once again we showed that we can compete well against any team; only we are not yet so far that we can convert that into profit.”
For three sets, a great volleyball fight unfolded in sports hall Olympus, the home base of Sudosa-Desto. Zwolle, a team in good shape with three victories in the championship pool – in which the best six teams in the premier league decide who will be champions of the Netherlands – started the match overwhelmingly.
Save what can be saved
At 8-17, Erwin Sikkema took Afman’s team and him to the side for the second time with a time-out to save what could be saved. Both men found the right words, because suddenly Sudosa-Desto threw off all hesitation and got stuck in the game.
Led by the excellent Kirsten Wessels and libero Danique Hamming, who kept one ball off the ground in the back field, the home team came closer and closer: 17-19. Zwolle eventually took the opening set 25-20.
‘Our best volleyball of the season’
,,After a difficult start, we recovered well”, said Sikkema. ,,We won the second set 28-26 and we could have won the third set as well. Only we conceded a serve series in a wrong rotation (from 15-10 it became 15-17). Apart from that, I think we showed our best volleyball of the season in these three sets.”
Zwolle took the third set 25-22 and was then able to pull the match completely to itself. Afman: ,,In the fourth set it was 25-10 for us. But we do need these kinds of matches to grow to a level that is necessary to win these kinds of games. I am convinced that we will succeed.”
The coaching duo Afman/Sikkema remains combative for the last games. ,,I want to get rid of those hateful zero points, that will happen”, Afman concluded.