A new team on the FIVB World Tour, van Garderen and Varenhorst were granted one of the three “wild cards” for the 2017 FIVB World Championships.  While van Garderen will be playing in his first world championships, Varenhorst placed second in the 2015 in The Hague with Reinder Nummerdor.  Varenhorst also placed 17th in the 2013 worlds in Poland with Daan Spijkers.  Varenhorst and Alexander Brouwer placed second at the 2008 FIVB under-21 World Championships.  A member of the Dutch national indoor Volleyball team for four seasons (2013-2016), van Garderen is competing on the FIVB World Tour for the first-time.  During the first full week of July, Varnhorst and van Garderen captured the gold medal at the European challenger/satellite event in Kharkiv, Ukraine.  Varenhorst, the World Tour’s top hitter in 2015, played in his first FIVB event in 2007 and started competing on the senior circuit in 2009.