Because Eliot De Vleeschhauwer is completing a tournament with the Young Red Dragons during the Easter holidays, he was no longer allowed to play with Menen on Friday. — © Bart Vandenbroucke
VOLLEYBAL LOTTO VOLLEY LEAGUE – CHAMPION PLAY-OFF: DECOSPAN MENEN – BORGWORM 2-3
I go –
Never seen at League level: a passer on the opposite side in a team with an uninjured and unsuspended main striker as a spectator in the stands. And yet Menen had to do that on Friday evening in the narrowly lost home game against Borgworm.
After a marathon match, Menen also lost the seventh match in the play-offs at home against Borgworm. This time no resigned or soulless Decospan, but a seriously handicapped team due to injuries and external circumstances. Menen died fighting 15-17 in the tiebreak. The border team was of course missing reception corner player Marin Dukic, who had left immediately last week for the Italian Cuneo, while libero Yentl Bille was injured.
Main attacker Eliot De Vleeschhauwer was not allowed to take office. During the Easter holidays he will play a tournament with the Young Red Dragons and therefore the association will no longer allow him to play with his club ten days before the start of that tournament. And this in the middle of the play-offs! Libero Verwimp of Haasrode Leuven and playmaker Ponseele at Aalst must also remain sidelined for the same reason. “Roeselare and Maaseik do not have any of those youngsters in their ranks, otherwise the fuss would be a lot bigger. Or would that measure not even exist at all,” they say, not wrongly, at Menen.
“Degoutant and ridiculous, and then I still weigh my words,” said an incensed assistant coach Jelle Sinnesael. “Against Borgworm, our opponent Anes Perezic dropped out in the first set at 15-17 with a serious foot injury. It’s probably out for the rest of the season. With only eight players for seven positions, you have to figure it out. Thiemen Ocket became the playmaker and first passer Seppe Van Hoyweghen stood on the opposite side, while a completely fit and ready to play main attacker Eliot De Vleeschhauwer had to grit his teeth and watch from the stands in plain clothes. Just ridiculous.”
Wednesday to Roeselare
“The seventh play-off defeat, but especially the manner in which it occurred, is disappointing,” concluded Sinnesael. “However, the fighting spirit that the remaining players showed against Borgworm was encouraging. We will have to do this in the last three play-off matches – starting with the away match on Wednesday in Roeselare – and in the subsequent ‘Challenge Ticket Qualification’, right?