It was clear. That when Union Lüdinghausen and TV Refrath meet, the decision about victory or defeat is only made in the very last match. In the recent past, you could almost bet that the zero eights would always be ahead in the end. This was also the case on Sunday, when the Steverstadt team prevailed 4-3 in the duel between the old masters.
And as exciting as the match was until it was 3:3, the final mixed doubles match was almost a bore. Selena Piek was too clever at the net and Robin Tabeling’s smashes were too powerful for Jan Colin Völker and Leona Michalski, two German national players, to have been able to counteract it.
Returnees also confident in the doubles
In general: How we missed the two Dutchmen who were unavailable for a year in the Bundesliga because of the Paris games. Yesterday you weren’t just successful in the mixed doubles. Tabeling also won the second doubles with Josche Zurwonne, Piek showed no weakness alongside compatriot Jaymie Laurens.
It didn’t matter that the otherwise strong first 08 double, Ties van der Lecq/Brian Wassink, exceptionally lost out in the meeting with Völker and Malik Bourakkadi. Victory number three on Sunday was achieved by Nick Fransman, who started weakly against Brian Holtschke, but improved in time and defeated his opponent 3-1.
Beat Brian Holtschke 3-1: Unionist Nick Fransman. Photo: flo
“One point was the minimum goal. “It’s all the better that we got two points in the end,” concluded Union team manager Michael Schnaase.
Runner-up too strong for 08 emergency team
The day before – as expected – the duel with 1. BC Wipperfeld was pretty one-sided. In the 0:7 defeat against the runners-up, the zero eights won two sets in a kind of emergency team. With Florian Kneilmann, the hosts had called up a man who usually plays for Union 3 in the association league. The toughest resistance came from 08 veterans Zurwonne and Laurens, who won the first section against the BCW mixed team Christopher Grimley/Lucia Garcia and also kept the third open until overtime (13:15).
Aram Mahmoud achieved a remarkable success, having already impressed on the first day of double play and also taking a pass from Irishman Nhat Nguyen, one of the best singles players on the continent, on Saturday.
Second scores
Victory in the second singles: top talent Leon Kaschura. Photo: flo
Second division newcomer Union Lüdinghausen 2 defeated STC BW Solingen 5-2 on Sunday and picked up two important points in the race to stay in the league. The doubles Robin Victor/Raphael Korbel (12:10 in the deciding set) and Karin Schnaase-Beermann/Stina Vrielmann won their matches, as did Alexander Becsh, Schnaase-Beermann and Leon Kaschura the three singles. The second team had no chance in the 1:6 defeat against leaders Sterkrade-Nord, Victor and Korbel contributed the honorary point in the absence of Jan Kemper (unable). (flo)
…
