On Thursday 12 January it was that time again: a real EV classic. G4 took on G3 under the watchful eye of a lot of impartial supporters on the stands. Last time, G4 managed to beat G3 3-1, so the expectations were high. Before you read this report, you should know that I, the author, am in G4 and therefore may not always succeed in formulating my findings about the competition neutrally. Spoiler: I'm not entirely happy with the outcome.
The first set started with a 0-3 lead for G4 but was soon dominated by G3. The players of G4 had a hard time getting the service pass under control and therefore failed to make a decent attack. Our courage sank. After a nice service series from Roeland, a regrettable 25-17 was the best we could make of it.
We started the second set with our heads held high. The same players stood within the lines, but it went wrong again. Clearly, we were still not into the game. When G3 seemed to take the win again, our captain Matthijs sprained his ankle. The last point Jeffrey replaced him to make the best of it, but unfortunately in vain. So, we lost the 2nd set.
Without Matthijs we had to come up with a new plan to beat G3. Pien and Theo made their entrance. Could they turn the tide? It seemed like it for a while. We played great rallies and Theo's optimism made us feel like it again. But unfortunately, the optimism was not enough to drag the win to us, and we also lost the 3rd set.
To keep the honor high, we had to win the last set. Although we didn't get many balls on the ground at G3 in the previous sets, we clearly exhausted them, because one ball after another soon fell to the floor on the other side. We won the fourth set with a big win of 25-14. Disappointed but satisfied, we shake hands with G3. After all, the great thing about an away game at home is that Erasmus Volley always goes home with the win. A bitter pill for G4, but all in all a nice match.