Report from the Three Kings Tournament in Roding on January 3rd, 2026
The following players from ASV Piding set off to Roding early in the morning of the third New Year’s Day to take part in the classic:
Stefanie Berg, Andreas Berg and Alexander Hammerer or Florian Griesacker, who we borrowed from the postal sports club
Christian Nöbauer alias Grieszl has already triumphed at this tournament three times. Due to the large number of participants, the tournament management decided to shorten the game sets to 15 points.
Dameneinzel A
In the women’s singles A (division district upper league BOL), Stefanie met the Upper Palatinate cracks Sophia Dinter (BC Bodenwöhr) and Johanna Nausch (TV Zwiesel) in the group phase. Stefanie beat both opponents with flying colors and that wasn’t a given as she played both games on one of the fields where only single lines were drawn. In the quarterfinals she played against her friend and doubles partner Nanette Baumann (TV Osterhofen). Baumann, a former footballer at FC Bayern Munich, is characterized by a strong fighter mentality and endurance. And it was supposed to be a battle of nerves where Stefanie was supposed to stay ahead. She won 15:5; 11:15; 15:12 in 3 sets. She continued against local hero Louis Heigl. Louise moved strongly and played outstanding drops, unfortunately she was able to narrowly defeat our Stefanie in two sets with 15:12 and 15:13. Louise should also win the tournament. Things got hot for Stefanie in the small final against Gabriele Mader. In the first set, Stefanie was always in the lead and maintained it until the end of the set. After the break, there was a small slump before she was able to unpack her dreaded diagonal balls in the front court again in the third set and claim it took 3rd place. Fun fact, after Stefie sent her husband off the side of the field, things went better for her in terms of play. Mountain hail!
Damendoppel A
As I said, Stefie played alongside Nanni in doubles. In Group A they didn’t let anything go wrong as they impressively defeated all of their opponents. In the semi-final against Mader/Nausch (Regen/Bodenwöhr), the two played very consistently, especially in the first set, and won 15:8. Unfortunately, a few mistakes crept into the second set, but both remained calm and won in extra time with 18:16. In the final it was against Habermeier/Erlmeier. After running a small deficit in the 1st Staz, the home team couldn’t turn it around. In the 2nd and 3rd set, Stefie and Nannie made a comeback. As the game continued, both of them came through more and more with their smashes and kills at the net and thus won the final with 12:15; 15:13; 3:10 p.m. Mountain hail!
Men’s doubles A
In the men’s doubles, Andi Berg competed together with Alex Vonhof (TSV Altenmarkt) and Alex Hammerer with Flo Griesacker (Post SBG). Berg/Vonhof secured first place in Group A. They only had to fight against the unpleasant local heroes Hofer/Habermeier from Roding. Surprisingly, the people of Rodingen went for everything druf, druf! Nevertheless, Andi and Alex were able to prevail in 3rd sets. Flo and Alex had to fight more, the opening game went to 3 sets, which they were supposed to win. The two also held on well in the second game against group favorites Deubler/Maier from Erding, but lost 15:11; 15:11. Finally, things got hot again against the supposedly easiest opponent Rader/Bauer. The opponents also had a lot of net rollers. Nevertheless, Alex and Flo fought their opponents in 3rd sets with 10:15; 15:8;15:13 down.
For Andi and Alex it was in the quarter-finals after a bye in the round of 16 against Eiber/Haller from Chamerau. With 15:7; The two reached the semi-finals in a confident manner with 15:11. For Flo and Alex, however, it was the final stop against Sabatke/Jockl Kronawitter with a score of 14:16; 15:8; 15:9 defeat, with many long rallies for the spectators to see. Sabatke, youth coach at Ebersberg, then praised Florian Griesacker’s strong performance. Now there was the first tough test for Andi and Alex Vonhof: the strong Erdinger Maier/Deubler. In the first set, however, Andi and Alex didn’t get any traction at all and so the first went to Erdinger. Before the 2nd set, the two shook each other and played like substitutes. In the 3rd set a tight box developed, where in the end 2nd balls unfortunately ended up out of bounds and Erdinger triumphed. Final score 15:11; 9:15; 15:13 for Erdinger. In the game for third place against Tim Schröttle/Molham Salem (rain) the score was unfortunately 15:11; 15:5 a clear defeat. The two Regeners played extremely powerfully.
Herreneinzel A
In the group games, Alex and Andi destroyed their opponents in rows. Stop! There was an exception in Andi’s opening game against Anton Diaper (BC Bodenwöhr). At first Andi had a hard time against the nimble youngster. But he fought his way into the third set and was finally able to put the youngster in his place with his nerves. 8:15; 15:11; 18:16 for Andi. Mountain hail! Unfortunately, in the quarterfinals, after a bye, Andi met Tobias Urban (TSV Wolfstein), who would go on to win the tournament. After a strong performance, Andi was still eliminated with 10:15; 16:14; 15:12 out. Annoying he could have won the game with a bit more luck. Alex took revenge for Pidinger’s double defeats in the round of 16 against Korbinian Maier (Erding) with 15:4; 15:9 and thus restored honor. A wild game developed with many great, long rallies against Bastian Böhm, last year’s winner from Regensburg. In the end Alex won by a very narrow margin of 15:6; 13:15; 16:14 prevail. Alex won safely against the running machine Roland Rader with 15:13; 15:11. Unfortunately, Alex developed slight cramps in his calves during the semi-final. During the break after the semi-final he tried to get extra blood circulation in his calves with a cream, but it was still an attempt. In the final he was unable to counter Tobias Urban, who eliminated Andi Berg, and lost 15:6; 15:7. At least the final was good backhand training for Alex, as he took all the balls on the backhand side with his backhand. And compared to 3 years ago, Alex was able to climb the podium independently because he collapsed with a cramp. Unfortunately, his friend Flo Griesacker didn’t make it through the group phase with one win and two defeats, but he did gain valuable experience for the future.
All participants had a lot of fun, which is why I would like to finally thank the organizing club for the successful implementation of the Three Kings Tournament. The queen of the tournament was clearly and everyone agreed on that, Stefanie Berg, with a win and third place in 2 disciplines.
Author of the article: Alexander Hammerer
