VT Südharz struggles on his way to fifth despite injury

The VT Südharz team played around Joleen Battermann and Emma Böttcher in the Northwest German Championships in Emden and achieved an impressive fourth place. In group mode they started again with 3:3, from the round of 16 they started again at 0:0. The game is played in group mode with four groups of four teams each. However, the situation here was not “all against all”, but the first rank 2 against the 15th rank and the 7th (VT team) rank against the 10th rank. Then, the winners of both matches competed against each other in the starting and second place As well as the losers for the third and fourth places.

VT Südharz played first in Group D against the duo Bremer/Zirkelbach (Blau-Weiß Hemmendorf-Salzhemmendorf/TV Eiche Horn Bremen). Harz started poorly, but the longer the game went, the better the work and they won 15:12. In the second set, the team immediately took the lead and never gave up. The match ended at 15:10. In this mode, I was already second in the group before the next round.

Then you had to deal with a really strong opponent, the Mohwenkel / Schwinn team (SVG Lüneburg / TSV Giesen GRIZZLYS). The match was tough. Every point fought here, was swaying back and forth. With the 13:13 and the next 14:14 the first set finally went to the Battermann/Böttcher team at 16:14. In the second set, it went on and I lost in a high-level set of 12:15. In the third set she made a lot of mistakes and lost with 6:15 to the final winner of the tournament.

In the round of 16, you face Alken / Armbrust (SV Union Lohne / SV Union Lohne). Here, Südharzer had a lot of admitting errors and always had to run behind the ball and thus did not come for good offensive actions. Even though you stayed attentive to the first sentence, you had to deliver the sentence at 12:15. Also in the second set, the VT team was not spared the hard work, but they rewarded themselves with a 15:12 victory. Even in the third set, you couldn’t build the game smoothly and had to fight hard as well. Again at 15:12 Julien Batterman and Emma Butcher won and advanced to the quarter-finals.

There she met a well-known opponent from the previous weeks Durisova / Milz (BTS Neustadt / BTS Neustadt). The Hearts women won the first set convincingly with a skilled finish with 15:7. In the second sentence, mistakes crept in again and again. Emma Butcher had to struggle with pain in her knees – and they lost 12:15. In the third set Julien backed her partner with good tip, now closing the balls that way, and the set finished at 15:5. Real will to get at least 4th place here, despite the bad conditions.

In the semi-finals they met again with an already strong opponent Klim / Siegenmayer (TSV Giesen GRIZZLYS / Blau-Weiß Hemmendorf-Salzhemmendorf). After their defeat and thinking not to play, they tried to continue the match, but in the end they had to admit defeat with 11:15 and 10:15. On that day you had a good chance of making it to the final if it wasn’t for the injury. Because the newly assembled Klimm/Ziegenmeyer duo didn’t mesh well in the game. So he was in a third-place match against Schroeder/Wahl (SVG Lüneburg/SVG Lüneburg), but due to injury, they parted early after three points. Thus, the duo of Joleen Battermann and Emma Böttcher still achieved an excellent fourth place in the well-occupied U18.

A day later, Joleen Battermann played another tournament with her new partner Samira Bousri (Emder RV). The two got to know each other through several beach tournaments in recent years and wanted to play this tournament together. They didn’t need much voting time and were convinced in the first match against Schroeder/Wahl (SVG Lüneburg/SVG Lüneburg) from the day before. In the first set there were some voting errors as this was their first match together, and it ended with 15:17. In the second set, they advanced until 14:10 and could have won the match with match point 15:10. In the end, you had a bit of bad luck with the mesh reels, and of course the coordination issues.

So I lost again with 15:17

As a result, he is now only second or third in the group against the duo Bousri/Kalkwarf (Emder RV/Emder Volleys). You are now well trained in terms of running and tactics and you clearly won 15:3 and 15:9. Thus, the duo met third-party Kreymborg/Schreckenberg (Blau-Weiß Lohne/Blau-Weiß Lohne) in the round of 16. In the first set, coordination problems caused a 6:15 defeat. In the second set, they ran out of every ball, they won by 15:9. In the decisive third set, the duo made it exciting again at the end, winning it again with a great running action with 15:13

Now it was up to a superior opponent in the semi-finals, Team Abheiden / Hegge (SV Raspo Lathen / SV Raspo Lathen). The game turned out to be the most exciting game. In the first set they lost 8:15, although there was a fight for every ball again. But then, you quickly adjusted with your opponent and analyzed their weaknesses in the break and fought for every ball. It swung back and forth and no team could pull away. Until 12:12 it was balanced over and over, but from there Julen Batterman and Samira Al Basri took off and won 15:12. The third group started with great cheers from the audience.

Here too, there was a huge exchange of blows against an opponent three years older than him. At first I was 0:5 behind until I needed 9:9 to be at eye level again. Only here you did not give a ball lost and recovered every ball with great effort. From then on it was all about every ball and at 14:13 you even had a match ball. This was fought off and entered the final hot stage until 17:19.

It was bittersweet that in the final stage, a well-played Bagger ball got stuck by Samira on the edge of the net – thus not hitting her target and a point on match point. However, the two celebrated their first joint championship with a stunning fifth place in the mighty U19 Championship. The team was the youngest 14-year-old compared to the teams.