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Matches week 38
Unfortunately, we can't watch each others games anymore. So, we've asked the team to write a little story about their matches. This way we can still be there, somehow. Below you can read summaries of all Kroton matches that were played in week 38, so that you still have the feeling that you were there!
Women's 1
Last Monday, September 14, women’s 1 got to play Kroton’s very first game of the season, what an honor! To ensure that everyone would be full of energy in the field, Antonia and Carien prepared a team dinner; a portion of pasta that could feed the whole of Kroton, but the hungry girls of ladies 1 almost managed to empty the whole pan. When our bellies were well filled, we left armed with facemasks by car and train to Highsand Juicylake, also known as Hoogezand-Sappemeer. At 8.45 pm we entered the field to compete against Krathos DS3, a second class team that played in the third class last season. Just to be clear, Kroton ladies 1 plays first class so we played a cup match on this beautiful Monday (where you also play against teams from other classes). The expectations were high, but we knew we should not underestimate the opponent. With Italian temperament, from our coach and match analyst Max and Luca, the first line-up was sent into the field: setter Sanne, middle blockers Carien and Antonia, Merijn on opposite, Gerbrig and Anna on the outside and our indispensable libero Josta. There is not much to tell about this set, because before you knew it the 25 was already on the scoreboard. 13-25, to be clear. In the second set the team was completely changed, but nevertheless this set was also won 16-25. And to keep it short, the third set also ended 16-25. We played well, but still had to get back in the game a bit and that is exactly what this match was suitable for. Krathos DS3 did not disappoint, they had a good block and we also got to defend some nice attacks from them. A good start for ladies 1, but we can do much better! We are going to work on that in the coming trainings and matches so that, when it is allowed again, you can watch a fantastic playing ladies 1! On to promotion (class)!
Set 1: 13-25
Line up: Sanne, Carien, Antonia, Merijn, Gebrig, Anna en Josta.
Set 2: 16-25
Line up: Natacha, Carien, Rebecca, Vera, Anna, Geanne en Josta.
Set 3: 16-25
Line up: Sanne, Antonia, Rebecca, Merijn, Gerbrig, Geanne en Josta.
Krathos DS 3 vs. Kroton DS1 (cup match): 0-3
Saturday afternoon September 19th was the day: Rebecca could celebrate her 23rd birthday, congratulations!! And oh yes, we also had a match in Bedum. Our first competition match was scheduled against Dio-Bedum D3. Our past experience has taught us that matches against volleyball clubs from the same hometown as Arjen Robben are always difficult to win. Nevertheless, we drove with fighting spirits and in three fancy cars safely with mask to "de Beemden"; wondering if Rebecca will choose to drive the tourist route again… Unfortunately, Alyssa is recovering from an injury and could not play. However, being the team player she is, she did not mind driving this amazing team with her fancy BMW to Bedum. Max did not dare to let us play without him coaching us, so he was there to help us win!
Set 1 started with Sanne, Merijn, Antonia, Rebecca, Geanne, Anna and Josta. The set started a bit in anticipation, but soon we played our own game and dominated the first set with a remarkably good service pressure, resulting in 19-25 win. The second set was played with the same line-up. Bedum showed why they belong in the 1st class because there attacks where difficult to defend which resulted in a loss of the second set 25-22. Gerbrig brought new energy on the outside attack in the third set. The blocking was strong and the rallies were won point by point, resulting in winning the third set with 19-25! It was sometimes difficult to get through the blockage of Bedum offensively.,, except for Merijn, for her there was nothing difficult about it. Therefore, Max's strategy for the 4th set was: Everything on Merijn, and she was unstoppable! With a close 20-25 win in the 4th set, we secured our first win of the season!
We look forward to play against Lycurgus next week, if the corona circumstances allows it.. To be continued.
DIO/Bedum DS3 vs. Kroton DS1: 1-3
Women's 2
On Wednesday September 16, ladies 2 played her first match against Zuvoc Zuidbroek, but we traveled to Noordbroek. While some thought this was the middle of nowhere, for others this was (almost) a home game day #proudtobeafarmer. Public transport does not exist in Noordbroek, so some players had to take the train to Zuidbroek and continue with the ''call car'' Once arrived at the MFC (multi functional center), our multi-culti team started to play under the guidance of coach Lian with our other trainer Leon on the main stand. Our own prognosis 0-25 fell a bit into the water (lekker Dutch). Nevertheless, we did win 0-4 with the following results:
Set 1: 21-25
Line up: Jessica, Myron, Tia, Tessa, Nienke, Sanne and Gea.
Set 2: 18-25
Line up Jessica, Myron, Tia, Tessa, Nienke, Sanne and Gea.
Set 3: 20-25
Line up: Jessica, Nienke, Tia, Tessa, Britt, Heidi, Gea.
Set 4: 14-25
Line up: Sigrid, Myron, Heidi, Tessa, Britt, Sanne, Gea.
We got the first 5 points, on our way to the championship! #wearenumberone
Zuvoc DS1 vs. Kroton DS2: 0-4
Men's 3
It has been two years. Two very very dry years. A set here, another two there, but no wins. Today, the 17th of September, however, was the day that Heren 3 made history. After a bit of a messy train ride to Bedum, where one of us got lost at the train station and missed the train, we headed into the sports centre, looking forward to at least having a decent start of the season. After a very quick warm-up, we got started with our first set, which ended pretty well for the first of the season – a solid 25-21. This was a sign – today was the day. We started off the second set with an incredible 0-10 lead carried by our new captain Lasse’s serves. We rode the wave for the rest of the set finishing 22-25 and marking our first won set for the season. We continued to surprise each other into the second set. Although our opponents - DIO/Bedum HS7, continued to cause us problems, they were no match for the defensive capabilities of our outsides, Alex’s surprisingly good hits and Lukas’ jaw-dropping middle hits (by our standards of course) off of some questionable sets. We won the third set with a 17-25. Our eyes were on the prize – could we really manage to win 1-3? The excitement certainly influenced our play as we started off somewhat shaky and played a close game of cat and mouse with our opponents. In the end, we prevailed, winning the fourth set 23-25 and securing our first win! Having said that, you might notice that a small, short, but certainly not insignificant element has been neglected. Throughout these 4 sets of glory, our libero Bálint was the backbone of our defence and gave us the best receives and clutch touches that we could have asked for. Perhaps we should start asking him for more? With our first victory behind our backs, we are now looking forward to many more. We may also have to reconsider our goals for this season, as winning a match has already been achieved.
To sum it all up in the wise words of our middle blocker Victor: Simple. We didn’t suck. We didn’t lose. The end.
DIO/Bedum HS7 vs. Kroton HS3: 1-3
Men's 1
September 17 2020. I remember it like it was yesterday. Images engraved into my mind.
It all began a few weeks ago. The team steamed through the pre-season tournaments of Oranje Nassau and Veracles. These friendlies were hyping them up for the first competition match. Men deprived of their possibility to release their sexual frustration started gathering at the edge of the Noorderplantsoen. Then, after Dusan’s tenth time of bitching about the distance to Uithuizen the fellowship was swallowed by the metallic leviathan that ravished across the countryside of Groningen. After the beast swallowed Beni it spit out a patch of hair in a very particular pattern. The journey was very peaceful and blessed by the kiss of the setting sun.
Then, once the beast had enough of Massi’s bad taste in music it stopped in Uithuizen to clean its insides.
The fellowship followed Tobias to the Sports hall, which resulted into a scenic route through the little village. Inhabitants having their curtains open provoked the twins even beyond their already noticeable frustration. Like two stampeding stallions they stormed into the arena. After the warm-up ritual of skipping around, missing lay-ups and moaning the match finally began.
The first round was dictated by Luca’s womanly mind games creating many 1 on 1 situations for our attackers (mainly Lian, fuck you Luca). The round ended with 25-something for the men in red.
The second round Dusan unleashed pure silovati on the opponent by serving 10 aces in a row. His onslaught could only be stopped by the boredom of his teammates. After Max pulled the shortest straw he forced the referee to award the other team with a point. Need not say Dusan was a little angry with him. This round also ended with 25-something.
Then the third round commenced. After playing like shit for a few minutes a fierce ass clapping from Koch got the men back in line. Balls were thrown into the net by both teams but after some delicate but athletic serving by a pure Adonis of a man the older opponents were definitely jelly in their belly. 25-something again.
In the fourth set the new and improved Tarzan made his debut in Kroton H1. His looming shadow darkened the court of Unitas and made the opposing setter tremble in fear. Some even say he ate setter afterwards to satisfy his hunger. After testing out his powers he started to ram balls into the ground. Together with Goliath and their new war cry Kroton H1 would achieve victory. And once again, the final score was 25-something.
After the match the burly men feasted upon some homemade cookies and phallic shaped vegetables. Back in Groningen the men returned to their harems and went into slumber.
Unitas HS1 vs. Kroton HS1: 0-4
Men's 2
Men’s 2’s away game against DIO/Bedum
Our men’s 2 also played it’s first game this season last Thursday. Although the players were able to keep up with the opponents, this is not reflected in the results: 3-1 lost. The team especially had difficulty with the changes in the playing speed of the opponents, which sometimes meant that they were quickly behind. During the last set, the players had thrown all the ballast overboard. They have entered the final set with a new yell (on corona-proof of course) and fresh courage. The opponents did come back twice, but the players of Heren 2 eventually won the last set, and thus the first point of the season. Hopefully they can take the positivity of the last set with them and have a good season.
DIO/Bedum HS5 vs. Kroton HS2: 3-1
Women's 3
It was the first week of training with a complete team, and we already suffered a broken finger and two (fortunately) negative coronatests. Because we want to get the most out of the matches we can play, we made it a 5-setter! There is always room for improvement, but the highlights were our outside attacker Milou on dia, and the extension of our yell and clap arsenal!
Oranje Nassau DS5 vs. Kroton DS3: 2-3
Women's 8
Last Thursday, ladies 8 had their first game of the season. With a team that consists half of new members, this was a challenge after only having had a few training sessions. With Berlind's wrist in a cast we only had two mids, so we were creative with the set-up and Karmen and Tamar tried out the middle position. Even with cheat sheets, the positioning was unfortunately not quite smooth, but luckily the referee often overlooked it when we were standing wrong. Even when Clara served while it was not yet her turn, the referee looked away for a moment. All in all, this is all still a bit confusing for us, but the season has only just started. Afterwards the referee came to us and said that the opposing team had been playing together for 1,5 years, so the fact that we were not at the same level yet was completely normal. In any case, he is confident that with a little more training we will be able to put down some pretty exciting matches with this team this year. For now the result was a 4-0 loss.
Oryx DS 6 vs. Kroton DS8: 4-0
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