Volleyball – Berlin Volleys celebrate 15th championship title: First breath, then party

Shortly before the master party, it became exciting again. When the SVG Lüneburg had actually broken through the proverbial wall on Saturday evening in front of 8553 fans in the sold-out Max-Schmeling-Halle with its back. While the record champion from Berlin worked on the ninth title as a result, the Lower Saxony showed what she did this season the greatest adversary in the volleys.

After two lost final games last week and two lost sets on Saturday, Lüneburg suddenly played with the ease with which they had come to the quarter -finals of the Champions League this year and the final series for the German championship. “It was noticed that at some point there was the moment when they said: ‘Now we don’t care what comes, we hit every ball on it’ and then it got a little scarce,” Volley’s player Johannes Tille admitted after the game.

Exchange of blows at eye level

After the dominant 25:12 in the first set and the significantly narrower 25:23 In the second round, a high -class exchange of blows between the two best German volleyball teams developed in the third round. After an early Berlin lead, Lüneburg came back and even took the lead with 16:14. But ultimately the quality of the defending champion predominated. Captain Ruben Schott with two nerve -wracks and birthday child Jake Hanes with several thundering attack strokes brought the volleys back forward. A little later, Berlin used the second match ball to 25:21 and caused a sigh of relief in the hall.

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“The relief is even greater than the joy that we did it after the difficult phase during the season that we finally came back in the end,” said national player Tille after the presentation of the master shell was more relieved than happy. The low point in February with the Champions League off to Lüneburg is still gnawing at the capitals. That was also clear with Volley’s manager Kawoweh Niroomand after the award ceremony: “All doubts, all comments, all the comments that we have not said about it should now take your own nose and wait the next time until the cheese is eaten.”

At least in Germany, the volleys are now undisputed again at the top of the food chain. They made only one sentence in the three final games against Lüneburg. After the LigAup success in September and the victory in the DVV Cup in March, the Berliners have now won the national triple with their 15th championship titles for the third time-even though the record champions were fundamentally re-compiled after eight entrances last summer. But head coach Joel Banks also formed a team from this new version of the volleys that can hardly be beaten without injury problems in the Bundesliga, especially in a playoff series over several games.

Master shell for everyone and beer from shoes

And because some of these new players were able to celebrate their first German championship on Saturday, the partial mood, somewhat steamed at the beginning, got going even better after the official confetti rain. Jake Hanes, who was once again a guarantee for victory with 22 points, was also able to look forward to the award as the most valuable player of the expired Bundesliga season on his 27th birthday.

On his round of honor, the American then made sure that the whole hall could touch the master shell. Hanes’ compatriot Matthew Knigge was introduced by Nehemiah Mote into the dubious tradition of the beer-out-the-own-sports shoe drinking. And managers Niroomand quickly forgot his resentment against the media and kissed the hall floor in the push -up.

At the other end of the Max-Schmeling-Halle, the traveling Lüneburg fans also celebrated their team with loud “runner-up” speaking choirs and everyone reminded that this young team will also be expected in the coming season. The Lower Saxony have enough potential to annoy the volleys even more in the coming season than in this.

In Friedrichshafen and Giesen you will already break your heads on how the dominance of the record champions can be broken. “Next year everyone will definitely try to beat the Berlin volleys again,” Joel Banks was already certain during the championship celebration. The British coach did not really look about it.