U20 boys: Belgium - Spain

1-3 (25-19, 20-25, 18-25, 22-25)

Our U20 boys lost their second match at their European Championship qualification tournament in Hartberg, Austria. A complete offday in serve and attack led to a 1-3 defeat against Spain. To still make it to the EC, our Young Red Dragons absolutely have to win tomorrow against home country Austria.

As on the first day against Denmark, our Young Red Dragons immediately took the lead. Mauro Lips and Eliot De Vleeschhauwer twice built a three-point bonus, but the Spaniards came back to 11-11. Fine serves by Robbe Ponseele created new counter opportunities: Tijmen Bus and Berre Van Looveren rounded them off nicely: 17-12. Another block by Joppe Wolters on top and soon 25-19 was on the board.

Lipsd set two even better than set one, with no fewer than three killblocks: 5-2. That's where our story stopped, as the Spaniards served up our reception in embarrassment, leaving us with hardly any good attack: 10-13. A fine save by Lechien, a slick tip by Bus and another block by Lips put us back on track: 17-15. Not for long, Spain served us turmoil to 20-25.

The contribution of both brothers Verwimp and Daan Spiessens made a difference. Until 16-16 we kept pace with the Southern Europeans, but a new dip with three outsmashes also cost us the third set: via 17-21 to 18-25.

The turnaround had given Spain a boost of confidence, and soon we were looking at 3-6 again. This time Warre Vandecruys and Seppe Van Hooghten got a chance to prove themselves, and when they cleared 8-12, we got some hope again. Unfortunately. In the final, we only accentuated our offday in serve and attack: 22-25.

Tomorrow (7pm) we close our tournament against Austria. That absolutely has to be ordinary to still have a chance to win a ticket to the European Championships. The match can be followed via livestream.

U20 Girls: Belgium - Austria

Today the U20 girls easily won over Austria: a dry 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-16, Yana Wouters (17 points), Saar Bertels (16 points) and Kaat Cos (10 points) crowned themselves top scorers of the match. The Young Yellow Tigers hit as many as 10 aces and made 12 kill blocks.

Tomorrow, 6 April at 19h the Young Yellow Tigers U20 play their final European Championship qualification match against Serbia to be followed via this link.