04/12/2016 10:15
ANTWERP look forward to European debut in CEV Volleyball Cup
2017 CEV Volleyball Cup - Men
Antwerp, Belgium, December 4, 2016. On Wednesday, December 7 Belgium’s Topvolley Callant ANTWERP will be making their debut in the 2017 CEV Volleyball Cup – Men playing Croatia’s Mladost Ribola KAŠTELA. Croatia’s national champions previously contested the second round of the 2017 CEV Volleyball Champions League losing two close matches to Greece’s PAOK THESSALONIKI.
“We very much hope for a great result with our new team in front of the home crowd in order to keep alive our chances of progressing to the next round via the away match taking place in 14 days,” says General Manager Tim Verreth.
“Only two players – opposite Jolan Cox and libero Dennis Deroey – have stayed on from last season. We have signed some young Belgian and foreign players and two experienced ones such as Andres Toobal from Estonia and Thomas Douglas-Powell from Australia. Unfortunately, our ‘Aussie’ suffered an injury at the beginning of the season and is still out. Toobal arrived only a few days before the start of the competition, and yet we currently – unexpectedly but deservedly – sit in second place of the national league after suffering only two losses to Knack ROESELARE and Lindemans AALST (previously known as ASSE-LENNIK),” Verreth continues. “We have reached the semi-finals of the Belgian national cup again and I can say that coach Alain Dardenne and his players have done a great job so far.”
“Wednesday we will play our first European game and we are really looking forward to this one. It will be interesting to see how our players react to these always special circumstances. The match is drawing very much attention, also among VIPs. Even though they are currently busy with exams, we hope to see many of our younger fans who can contribute to delivering a great atmosphere, something which helped us already many times in the past,” Verreth concludes.
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