Last Saturday, 2dA Smashing played in front of a full house against multiple national champion <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2022/02/final-play-off-eredivisie-in-the-hague/" title="Final play-off Eredivisie in The Hague”>BC Duinwijck. The competition was dominated by all kinds of activities, such as a youth clinic, light and sound show during the line-up and an afterparty. The crowd had come en masse to the Achterlo sports hall, which promised to be a fantastic Eredivisie match.
At 7:00 PM (after the line-up with light show), we started with the men’s and women’s doubles. The men’s doubles from Duinwijck with Ties and Brian, who recently won the Belgian International, played very strongly. In the 1st set Freek and Casper were able to hold on with 21-17, but in the 2nd set the level of the opponents increased and it was difficult for Freek and Casper to get away from the pressure. This set was lost 5-21. For the ladies it was very even for 2 sets, after some long and exciting rallies this match was narrowly won by Debora and Meerte with 2x 21-18. A very good performance by Lieke and Maureen against one of the strongest doubles in the Eredivisie.
After the doubles, Rune and Marijn were allowed to compete. Rune started the match very strongly and put Aram under good pressure. You could see at the beginning of the match that this could be a grueling match. After a set ball for Rune, the 1st set was lost very narrowly 21-23. The 2nd set was a bit of a copy of the 1st set, very long rallies with beautiful and spectacular badminton. This was won by Rune 25-23!! The deciding set was very even, but at the end Aram was able to accelerate and Duinwijck won it 21-16.
Marijn was allowed to compete against Finn Achthoven. Marijn, who has 100% in his singles matches this season and is a serious asset to the team, lived up to his role as favorite and played a good game. He won 21-18 and 21-19. Currently 2dA Smashing is 1-3 behind. Time for the ladies ankles. Here Maureen Zewald played against Chloë Mayer and Inger Pothuizen against Nadia Choukri. Maureen played a monster match, but lost very narrowly with 21-23, 21-17 and 18-21. Another very nice match with long and beautiful rallies. Inger, who is back from China, also played a very good game. She won the 1st set 21-18, lost the 2nd set 12-21. In the 3rd set Inger played strongly and led 11-3. Here Nadia gave up and the game was won for 2dA Smashing. Score 2-4 before the mixes started.
In the mixed doubles, Duinwijck was the absolute favorite. Lieke and Freek played a creditable match, but fell just short against Ties and Meerte. The match was lost 13-21 and 17-21. Leonie and Marijn also played a strong match, but also narrowly lost 17-21 and 16-21 against Debora Jille and Aram Mahmoud. Final score 2-6 for BC Duinwijck.
The players of 2dA Smashing would like to thank all volunteers who organized this Eredivisie event. It was a pleasure to play here. Also a big thank you to the audience who came to watch in large numbers. This yearns for more. Next weekend we will travel to The Hague for the match against DKC.
