Setters
Frank Depestele, Tim Verschueren
Libero
Stijn Dejonckheere, Bert Derkoningen
Outside
Sam Deroo, Matthijs Verhanneman, Kevin Klinkenberg
Opposite
Bram Van den Dries, Hendrik Tuerlinckx
Middle block
Pieter Coolman, Simon Van de Voorde, Pieter Verhees
This final selection of 12 players was announced today by coach Dominique Bayens.
Biggest surprise: Gert Van Walle didn't make the final selection.
In my opinion, Van Walle should be the number 1 pick for the opposite-position. The 2nd spot should be Tuerlinckx or Van den Dries.
The coach's reasoning is that Van Walle and Tuerlinckx are similar (explosive) types of opposites, so he had to pick one or the other next to Van den Dries.
Tuerlinckx had a great season in the Belgian league, but so did Van Walle in the Italian A2 (champion with Citta di Castello).
I don't have much confidence in Tuerlinckx on an international level.
So now I'm not so convinced anymore we're going to qualify against Greece for the next EC.
Next week, we'll see how the team performs in WC 1st qualification round against Romania, Austria and Northern Ireland.