Unusually, DVSC SCHAEFFLER started the 2022/23 season with four home matches. The series went flawlessly, the team even held up well in Győr, and then came an unpleasant defeat…

Loki scored two points against Alba-Fehérvár (33–23), MTK-Budapest (31–24), Dunaújvárosi KKA (40–27) and Mosonmagyaróvár (30–24) at the beginning of the season. The domestic success against Mosonmagyaróvár was especially valuable, as the bronze medalists of the last two seasons met in Hódos. The first 13 minutes were like a nightmare, Móvár, who defended brilliantly, built up a serious advantage (2-8). After Zoltán Szilágyi’s time out, we arranged the lines, so we started to catch up, but few would have thought at that time that DVSC SCHAEFFLER would already have an advantage at the break. Debrecen won the second period 11-4, so after thirty minutes of play the score was 13-12. The second half started with a classic hat-trick by Konszuéla Hámori, then Petra Vámos and Mariana Costa also scored, so we already led by six. We kept this advantage until the end, so we won the first match of the season.

Due to the test matches of the national team preparing for the European Championship, there was a break in the championship, so after the successful streak in September, Loki played in Győr at the beginning of October. With nothing to lose, the team started the fight in the Audi Arena with no hands raised. Under the guidance of Catherine Gabriel, who defended in amazing form, we kept pace with the defending champion until the end. In the final game, the more routine ETO prevailed, but after the 25-22 defeat, we were optimistic about the future.

Then ten days later came a huge slap. In Budaörs the team showed signs of deconcentration already in the first half, but at least we were still in the lead. After a break, everything that could go wrong went wrong. The home team turned around with an 8-2 period, and although there was still an opportunity to improve in the last minutes, nothing succeeded on this day. Budaörs won 25-23, we received the first slap from which we had to get up quickly, since six days later another game was waiting for the girls. In the last meeting before the European Championship, Érd was the guest of Hódos, and although the shock from Budaörs was still felt in the first minutes, we won easily 32-24, which was important before the championship break of about a month and a half.

To be continued…