Matchday 22: Pure excitement in the battle for the playoffs

TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen and Borussia Düsseldorf have long since secured their play-off tickets. On the last regular matchday, a total of three teams still have the chance to do the same - but there are only places for two of them. The match between TSV Bad Königshofen and 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT is particularly explosive. The 22nd matchday at a glance.

Post SV Mühlhausen - TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell

Everything is at stake for TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell this weekend. After a rather dominant start at the beginning of the season, the engine kept stuttering. Fulda must now score points against Mühlhausen in tenth place in the table in order to secure a play-off spot on its own, otherwise it would need Saarbrücken to defeat Bad Königshofen. The club from Hesse go into the match with a tailwind from their last game against BVB. There, Dima Ovtcharov, Cheng-Jui Kao and Fan Bo Meng clearly proved their strength with a 3:0 win. The statistics also speak in favor of the Fulda team: In the first round, they also won 3:0. However, Post SV can now play with complete peace of mind, as there is no longer any need to worry about relegation. As there will be no promotion from the 2nd division, there will also be no relegation from the TTBL. Nevertheless, the fans at the LOTTO Thüringen Center Court are unlikely to make it easy for the opposing team on home soil. The match - like all games on the last matchday - will be played on Saturday, March 29, at 6 p.m.

SV Werder Bremen - TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen

Much further north is the clash between SV Werder Bremen and TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen. Although the visitors are already looking ahead to the semi-finals, finishing the main round at the top of the table would be the icing on the cake of a successful season. With 32:10 points, the team is level on points with Düsseldorf, who themselves have the same match ratio. In order not to have to hope for a Düsseldorf defeat, a win against Bremen is required. Bremen, on the other hand, can at best hold on to sixth place in the TTBL, with the next-highest team, 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT, having already pulled away. The task for the team from the city-state is a really big one: Ochsenhausen has only lost one match in the entire second half of the season, on February 27 against Bad Königshofen. Werder itself had recovered after a mixed start to the second half of the season and brought home points in each of its must-win games. Mattias Falck, Kirill Gerassimenko, Andrei Putuntica and Marcelo Aguirre now want to bring the round to a good conclusion.

ASC Grünwettersbach - TTC OE Clarity Telefonie-Systeme Bad Homburg

Even if it no longer really matters, the TTC OE Clarity Telefonie-Systeme Bad Homburg team is in eleventh place in the league and therefore in a relegation spot. On the last matchday, the team would therefore like to catch up with Dortmund and Mühlhausen, at least in terms of points. The newly promoted team showed what they are capable of on the last matchday: Although it was not enough for a win, Kristian Karlsson's team forced Düsseldorf's Timo Boll, Anton Källberg and Borgar Haug into the final doubles. They now travel to Karlsruhe to face ASC Grünwettersbach, who have a record of 20:22. At the very least, they would like to have an even points balance in the fan-shaped city. Ricardo Walther's team laid the foundations for this with recent victories against Mühlhausen and Bad Königshofen.

BV Borussia 09 Dortmund - Borussia Düsseldorf

The battle of the Borussians is on: Dortmund welcomes the record champions from nearby Düsseldorf. The match is already historic to a certain extent: although Düsseldorf will still be on show in the play-offs, it will be table tennis legend Timo Boll's last appearance in the regular TTBL season. Whether he will leave Dortmund with a sense of achievement will be decided on Saturday evening. The aim in Düsseldorf is also to finish top of the table. For Dortmund, on the other hand, a win would at best be a cosmetic result. Nevertheless, in order to prevent Mühlhausen from overtaking them in the event of a win, a victory is of course required. It would be their first points since winning the game against Grenzau on February 24.

TSV Bad Königshofen - 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT

The match between TSV Bad Königshofen and 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT is likely to attract the most attention on this matchday. The winner of the match will be guaranteed a play-off ticket. If Saarbrücken - currently in fifth place at home - were to win, Bad Königshofen would have to hope for a Fulda defeat due to their inferior match ratio. So everything is truly set for a real table tennis thriller. Bad Königshofen had recently lost their direct access to the play-offs. First they lost against Bad Homburg, then against Grünwettersbach. However, Jin Ueda and Co. do not want to be discouraged by this: In the preliminary round, they won 3:1 against the team from Saarland. There, on the other hand, the season was far from straightforward, with defeats being suffered time and again. For a long time, it therefore did not necessarily seem as if they still had a realistic chance of making the playoffs, but with a three-game winning streak against Dortmund, Bad Homburg and Bergneustadt, everything is now in place for a comeback.

TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau - TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt

TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau will finish the season in last place in the league, that is already clear. With a record of 8:34, it is no longer possible to catch up with Bad Homburg. The TTC found it difficult to get a foot on the ground in the second half of the season. The only exception was the surprise win against Fulda at the beginning of March. They would therefore like to give their all once again for a conciliatory end to the season. The squad welcomes the visitors from Bergneustadt, who are currently in eighth place in the league. National player Benedikt Duda has the best team record in the second half of the season with 7:4. Bergneustadt are coming off very difficult weeks. They have lost four games in a row. There is some consolation in looking back at the previous round - in August, Bergneustadt won 3:1 against Grenzau on the first matchday. In this respect, this Saturday's game provides the perfect setting for the end of the season.

The overview of the 22nd matchday

Saturday, March 29
6 p.m.: Post SV Mühlhausen - TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell
6 p.m.: SV Werder Bremen - TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen
6 p.m.: ASC Grünwettersbach - TTC OE Clarity Telefonie-Systeme Bad Homburg
6 p.m.: BV Borussia 09 Dortmund - Borussia Düsseldorf
6 p.m.: TSV Bad Königshofen - 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT
6 p.m.: TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau - TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt
All matches will be broadcast live and on demand on Dyn.
Text: Julian Hörndlein
Featured image above: Dimitrij Ovtcharov from TTC Rhönsprudel Fulda-Maberzell (Photo: TTC Rhönsprudel Fulda-Maberzell).