Women's handballers to play host to promoted Solingen-Gräfrath

Following the home victory against second-placed Bensheim on Wednesday, the Borussia Dortmund women's handballers are preparing for the next game in front of their own fans on Saturday (19:00 CET). HSV Solingen-Gräfrath will then be the visitors to Sporthalle Wellinghofen.

The triumph against second-placed HSG Bensheim/Auerbach on Wednesday was a highlight. Henk Groener's team went into the game without long-term injury absentees Dana Bleckmann, Lena Degenhardt and Alicia Stolle plus Carmen Campos Costa, who was ruled out at short notice. That meant the Dutchman had only three players for the backcourt at his disposal. Plus Maraike Kusian, who prefers to play on the flank and only occasionally features in a central role.

She helped out there for several minutes against the Flames. "It was a nice feeling to be involved again and to play my part in the triumph," said Kusian, who spent several weeks on the sidelines at the beginning of the year - in part due to a corona infection. She is still somewhat struggling with the after-effects of the virus. The left-hander was on the court for almost a full half of the home game against Bad Wildungen at the beginning of the month. In her own words, the final 10 minutes were "very, very tough. I've not seen that from myself in that form. But it's getting better from week to week and I'm being given the chance to slowly get back into it." Currently, she's at "80 to 90%, but the body naturally also needs time to get back to its performance level."

There is no doubt that the BVB women will need to give 100% if they are to pick up two more points against HSV Solingen-Gräfrath. The promoted outfit recently parted company with coach Kerstin Reckenthäler, with Lars Lehnhoff taking over on an interim basis. Having previously won only once, the visitors have tasted victory in two of their last four matches and are currently 12th in the table - the first relegation spot.

Kusian does not want to underestimate the opponent: "As we did against Bensheim, we have to approach the game with full focus and the same emotions. However, Solingen are not still towards the bottom of the table for no reason. We can play at a higher tempo and are better positioned across the board. If we capitalise on that, things will look very good for us."

The game will kick off at 19:00 CET and can be watched via Sportdeutschland.TV and Dyn Media. Tickets for Halle Wellinghofen are available here.