Ochsenhausen makes up points, Mühlhausen still without a win

Things are not going so well for Post SV Mühlhausen in the new season. The Thuringians are the only team apart from Grenzau that has yet to win a match. They also failed to win against TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen (1:3).

Last season, Mühlhausen battled for a play-off place until the very end, but had to give way to SV Werder Bremen due to their inferior record. Less than six months later, head coach Erik Schreyer's team is deep in the relegation battle.

Mengel takes compulsory point

The Thuringians took the lead through veteran Steffen Mengel, who defeated Brazilian Bundesliga debutant Leonardo Iizuka in four sets. But that was just a snapshot. In a hard-fought match (three out of four sets went into extra time), Simon Gauzy equalised with his victory over Ovidiu Ionescu.

Calderano and Gauzy flawless

The fact that two South Americans (Calderano and Iizuka) were allowed to serve for the Oxen is due to the fact that Calderano has Portuguese citizenship as well as Brazilian. It's good for those who can have an Olympic semi-finalist playing in the number three position. The Brazilian mastered the ‘task’ of Daniel Habesohn with aplomb. As did team-mate Gauzy, who also beat Mengel in three sets to bag the winning point. The TTF's two top players have a 4:0 record after three matches each. Only Ovtcharov, Gerassimenko and Jha have a better individual record to date.

The fifth matchday continues with the clash between Bad Homburg and Bergneustadt (10 October, 7 p.m.). The supposed highlight awaits one day later, when last year's TTBL final will be played again in Saarbrücken.

Click here for the current table: https://www.ttbl.de/bundesliga/table/

Overview of matchday 5:

Post SV Mühlhausen – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen 1:3
Steffen Mengel – Leonardo Iizuka 3:1 (11:7, 9:11, 11:8, 11:3)
Ovidiu Ionescu – Simon Gauzy 1:3 (11:13, 10:12, 13:11, 3:11)
Daniel Habesohn – Hugo Calderano 0:3 (3:11, 8:11, 8:11)
Steffen Mengel – Simon Gauzy 0:3 (9:11, 9:11, 5:11)

Thursday, October 10
7 p.m.: TTC OE Bad Homburg 1987 – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt

Friday, October 11
7 p.m.: 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT – Borussia Düsseldorf

Saturday, October 12
5:30 p.m.: TSV Bad Königshofen – Borussia Dortmund
7 p.m.: TTC Rhön-Sprudel Fulda-Maberzell – ASC Grünwettersbach

Friday, November 01
7 p.m.: SV Werder Bremen – TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau

Text: Philipp Wohlfart
Featured image above: Simon Gauzy from TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen (Photo: Nicolai Schaal)