Volleyball Lotto Volley League Caruur Gent
Jan Van Huffel has New Year’s wishes: “Hopefully 2023 will be as successful as 2022.” — © Nic Declercq
After a winter break of three weeks, Caruur Gent resumes the competition on Sunday with an away match at Borgworm. The Walloons have not been very successful so far, but Caruur’s last victory also dates back to mid-November.
Dirk Van Bruysel
“Winning against Borgworm would already give us golden points”, coach Jan Van Huffel kicks off. “After all, Warworm will be followed by top players against Maaseik and Roeselare, so it would be very good to quickly gather some points with a view to the play-offs. I would like to be mathematically sure of a play-off ticket before we start the last two games of the regular season, so that the trips to Achel and Guibertin don’t really matter anymore. Winning against Warworm would certainly give us some breathing room.”
“Anyway, in recent weeks we have slowed down a bit so that everyone could clear their heads. Last week there was a training without obligation on Thursday and after New Year we fell back into the normal rhythm. In the end everyone is now physically ready again. Everyone except Gilles Vandecaveye, because he is still struggling with a back problem and will certainly not be available on Sunday.”
Earn playoffs
“Hopefully 2023 will be as successful as 2022. After all, we won the Belgian Cup last year and then also the Challenge Play-offs. In the autumn we were able to get acquainted with European volleyball. We also had a strong start to the competition, but these highlights were also followed by some lesser periods. For example, we lost the last three games in competition and we also went out in the cup. In order to start the second part of the competition with a good feeling, we have pressed the reset button in recent weeks. We realize that a ticket for the play-offs does not just fall from the sky: we have to earn it. That is why I hope that we will be top again by Sunday.”