The Netherlands to feature familiar players at VNL 2023

Starting his fifth season at the helm of the Netherlands’ men’s national team, Italian coach Roberto Piazza opted for consistency and is bringing all familiar faces back to the team for the 2023 international season, which starts in less than a month with the Volleyball Nations League.

Spearheaded by star opposite and team captain Nimir Abdel-Aziz, the 30-player list released by the Dutch Federation for the VNL is very similar to last year’s, with only three players who were with the team in 2022 not appearing in this year’s selection.

• Watch Volleyball Nations League 2023 on VBTV

Besides Abdel-Aziz, the top scorer in the last two editions of the event, Piazza’s selection also features outside hitters Thijs ter Horst and Bennie Tuinstra and middle blocker Fabian Plak. All 14 players that were part of the squad in last year’s FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship were included in the list created by the coach.

Part of the 30 players listed will be called up to compete in the VNL while the remaining ones will be working with the recently-created NextGen program, remaining available for selection by Piazza during the season.

Besides the VNL, the Dutch will also compete in the European Championship and the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, all between May and September.

“Every competition counts this year and maintaining a good spot in the FIVB World Rankings will be very important for Olympic qualification,” assistant coach Henk-Jan Held, who’s already training with some players in Papendal, said. “That’s something we’re very focused on and we’ll go for it.”

The Dutch will begin their VNL campaign in Ottawa, Canada, where they will face the United States, Cuba, Germany and Argentina from June 6-11. Before the trip, the country’s national team will play a pair of friendly matches with Slovenia in Doetinchem and Zoelle on May 27 and 28.

The Netherlands’ men’s national team full roster:

Setters: Freek de Weijer, Gijs van Solkema, Joris Berkhout, Markus Held, Sil Meijs, Wessel Keemink
Opposites: Daan Streutker, Martijn Brilhuis, Nimir Abdel-Aziz, Stijn Van Tilburg, Wouter ter Maat
Outside hitters: Bennie Tuinstra, Gijs Jorna, Jasper Wijkstra, Maarten van Garderen, Robbert Andriga, Thijs ter Horst, Thomas van Bladel, Tom Koops, Yannick Bak
Middle blockers: Fabian Plak, Luuc van der Ent, Luuk Hofhuis, Michaël Parkinson, Robin Boekhoudt, Siebe Korenblek, Twan van Wiltenburg
Liberos: Jeffrey Klok, Mats Bleeker, Niels Lipke

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