Volkach wants to make it with hammerlein’s help
Two handball teams from the district of kitzingen are playing in the women’s landesliga nord this season, and both are meeting each other directly at the start of the second half of the season, as they did on the first matchday: promoted HSG volkach is expecting HSG mainfranken, which is playing its fourth season in this division after its relegation from the bavarian league in the past.
When the two faced off for the first time in mid-september, the district derby in the sickergrundhalle in kitzingen ended without a winner. Although the hosts were in the lead for almost the entire game, they failed to maintain an interim four-goal advantage. After the change of sides, the two teams engaged in an open and exciting exchange of blows that resulted in a 22:22 score after one hour.
With three undefeated games, mainfranken got off to a promising start. Failures on the one hand and the lack of experience of a very young team on the other hand prevented a better performance in the following weeks. So after the winter break, the team coached by stefanie placht is in ninth place with 11:15 points, while volkach is lurking in twelfth place with 10:16 points, just one place behind it. A win in the ruckspiel in the home mainschleifenhalle, and volkach stand above their local rivals in the standings for the first time this season. Both could achieve a better ranking with a more successful ruck round: the league has split in the meantime, and even the fifth with 13:13 points has to look down in the wide and tight competition.
The up-and-comer had difficulties in the first few weeks. In the first six games, the volkach women ran in vain after a victory. Three home victories in a row finally ended the negative run, making the team coached by marcus muller competitive in the higher leagues from the middle of the first half of the season. With sandra hammerlein, a player with bavarian league experience in the bergtheim jersey returned to her home club during the round. Unlike mainfranken, which lost at home to winkelhaid before the winter break, volkach won at schweinfurt.
Goal of both county rivals in the remaining 13 games is to stay in the league. With the assumption of three relegated teams and one relegated team, the tenth place had to be sufficient for a safe stay. Should both teams succeed in staying in the league, the next season could be enriched from a local point of view and the duo could become a trio: marktsteft’s women will strive for the top as table leaders in the district league’s upper division.