Kobe Brems and Caruur Gent kick off Challenge Play-off in Achel with goal of securing European ticket


Volleyball Lotto Volley League: Challenge Play-off: Caruur Gent

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Gent

Tectum Achel and Caruur Gent will start the Challenge Play-off on Saturday evening in De Koekoek in Hamont-Achel, Limburg. In a competition with three – Guibertin is also still involved in the dance – the fight is on for a possible European ticket.

“Because there are no losers – the federation would prefer to expand our competition to twelve teams – that European ticket is the only bet. But we are fully committed to that,” says Kobe Brems. The setter of Caruur Gent and his team had been sentenced to these play-downs for some time. Caruur Gent finished the regular competition last in the rankings, but is still starting the final round in good spirits.

“We had to build a new team for an entire season and have only started to gain momentum since the New Year. Afterwards we recorded good results, but the damage suffered was too great, so we could no longer avoid last place. On the other hand, we have been able to gain a lot of confidence. For example, we defeated Tectum Achel 3-0 two weeks ago. Agreed, now the match will be played close to the Belgian-Dutch border after a long relocation, but our confidence is high.”

Due to the Challenge Play-off, Caruur may still be able to play in Europe later. “When I take a quick look at the competition, we can say that we have grown. Before New Year it was mainly about growing and struggling through the competition through trial and error. Only after New Year’s did we really start playing our own game. From then on things worked better. Hopefully we can continue the trend, because grabbing that European ticket was the goal we set for the competition. Playing European is the dream of the entire group and also the board. This season we already had a taste of winning in our home match for the CEV Cup against the Czech Kladno and that leaves us wanting more. Let’s hope that we can collect points with Achel, a team that can develop a lot of service pressure.”

Future

“Whether the future, and the departure of trainer Johan Verstappen, is playing tricks on us? Not really. We are professionals and everyone is mature enough to always make the best of it. We know that things are a little more difficult at the moment financially, but we want to play. But yes, it’s all about money and that’s a shame. Please note, I don’t know yet what my future holds. The club is still searching and as a setter I naturally hope that clarity will come soon. In these more expensive times, it is becoming more difficult for everyone to attract players and compensate them correctly. But those are worries for later. Let’s now focus on the away match in Achel.”

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