Diego Gonzales helps Roeselare advance in play-off final with strong preparation: “Thanks to excellent training”

Diego Gonzalez collides with an Aalst block.  The Mexican replaced the absent Seppe Rotty as main attacker.

VOLLEYBALLotto Volley League Champion Play-off: KNACK ROESELARE-LINDEMANS AALST 3-0

Diego Gonzalez collides with an Aalst block. The Mexican replaced the absent Seppe Rotty as main attacker. — © VDB

ROESELARE

With a sixth consecutive victory in the play-offs, Roeselare emphasized its role as favorites in the title battle. Aalst pressed fiercely, but made too many mistakes when serving to even deprive the home team of a set.

No Seppe Rotty to be seen on Sunday afternoon in the Tomabelhal. Sick, was the explanation. Diego Gonzales Castaneda took his place as the main striker. With varying degrees of success. After a hesitant start and many disturbing mistakes, the Mexican scored a number of important points. After the match, visiting coach Christophe Achten surprisingly voted him 'Star of the Game'.“I started this important match very nervously,” said the shy Gonzales. “Replacing Seppe Rotty, an important player at Knack, is not an easy task. With the help of my teammates, I was able to persevere and score some important points, especially at the end of the third set and the match at 22-22. We won 3-0, but Aalst made it difficult for us again. In the previous two confrontations we always needed a tiebreak to beat Lindemans. The detailed scouting and the excellent preparation of the trainer and his staff certainly helped us to take three very important points today.”

First clean sheet

“Our first clean sheet in these play-offs, that is certainly nice,” concludes center Pieter Coolman. “We played a decent match. Still not great, because there were still too many weaker moments. Aalst took a lot of risks in storage to put pressure on us. We were able to benefit from their numerous service misses, especially in the first set. Other than that we did our job properly. Especially by staying cool in the pressing final phases of both the second and third sets, which we were always able to complete with the smallest difference (27-25 and 26-24). The fact that closest competitor Maaseik lost a point in Borgworm is good for us. The final beckons, but there are still four matches to be played in these play-offs.”

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