OOSTERHOUT - The Oosterhout players of Team Eekhoorn may play the final for the national team championship against SIS Schoonmaak on Sunday 9 June. In the semi-finals for the playoffs, Team Eekhoorn secured the final spot in the home match against Cues&Darts. The Tilburg cup final winners could’nt manage to also qualify for the battle for the national title. Nikos Polychronopoulos (against Glenn Hofman) and Peter Ceulemans (against Ruben Legazpi) were the matchwinners for Team Eekhoorn, which was already safe on caroms at a 4-2 score and still won 6-2 in the end.
Peter Ceulemans was the first to get the win for Team Eekhoorn and also put ten caroms difference on the score board. The Belgian held a lead throughout the match against Ruben Legazpi (19-10, 25-18), saw the Spaniard come back with a run of nine, but eventually decided the match 40-30 in 19.
In the first half, the balance was restored by Pierre Soumagne with a victory over Frans van Kuyk (40-37 in 30), partly because the Brabant player passed the clock time twice and especially in the decisive last inning. That allowed Pierre Soumagne to score from the starting shot and take the match.The match initially went Cues&Darts' way after the break, when Glenn Hofman led 21-9 against Nikos Polychronopoulos and Huub Wilkowski led 15-9 against Jerry Hermans. However, the turning point came from that moment. The Greek Polychronopoulos was much better than Hofman after the break, turning the score in his favour from 27-17 and 34-29. Polychronopoulos finished with six at a score of 40-34, Hofman scored only once in the equalizer: 40-35.
Team Eekhoorn already had a 7-point lead after the first session and with Polychronopoulos' 5 points added up, that lead was 12 points. And with Jerry Hermans leading 30-26 in his match against Huub Wilkowski at that point, Team Eekhoorn's victory was assured. When it no longer really mattered, Jerry Hermans still won against Huub Wilkowski 40-36 in 43 innings.
Team Eekhoorn, the number two of the regular ranking in the Kozoom league, will therefore play against SIS Schoonmaak (the number one of the ranking) for the title of team champion in the Netherlands.
Nikos Polychronopoulos won his match against Glenn Hofman en secured victory for his team