Rotterdamn’it drove early to Arnhem last Sunday with great hopes of doing well in the second bracket of the indoor competition (9th-16th). A solid team of 7 composed of Arend, Stoyan, Peter, Vincent, Joep, Deepak and Oscar. For once we had some height in our team.
Our start in quarters was not as we hoped for against the Vellesan Speedy’s. Lack of precision in offence was a constant over the match, which combined with low intensity in defense, lead to a well deserved 11-8 loss.
During the long long break between matches we learned a nonsense card game from Peter. The rules and the direction of the play kept on changing as our master saw fit. Great fun though.
Before the semis, and putting the playing cards to better use, we planned a zone defense to put to the test in the coming games.
We felt a bit down after having played our first match well below our level. We were ready to prove we could be better. Our next opponent was NUTS, against who we lost out last match of the previous competition day. Unlike our previous match our offence clicked and we had flow in our attack. A successful zone gave us some turns early in the game to gain a lead that grew until we reached a final score of 11-3. The point difference was big but it did not feel that way on the field. Always very nice to play against the Amsterdam university team.
A somehow shorter but still long brake after it was our turn to face the Veenendaal Tijgers for the 3rd time this season. I cannot tell the scores of any of the previous games, but they have always very close matches with intense defense being the key to the game. This time was not going to be different. This game was played in the main field with quite a crowd watching (or talking or reading, but you know, present) which gave an extra sense of relevance to the game. We started solid on offence and managed to chip away some break points. This short lead was maintained during the game with great offence and very focused defense. For once we were winning some air battles against a team that masters the high discs (Peter and Arend owned the skies). Final score was 7-12 for us, closing this season in a 13th place, the best we could do after losing our first match.
On the bright side, we ended up 9th on the spirit ranking, which over 40 is not bad at all.