Marek Šotola (l.) irresistibly led the BR Volleys to the title.
Photo: image/Photo mode
It only took Marek Šotola eight seconds to bring the Max Schmeling Hall up to operating temperature. During the first attack, the Czech volleyball national player’s left stick immediately found the ground on the opponent’s side, and the decibel meters went wild as the fans cheered. It is those last days of April when this multifunctional arena in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg becomes the so-called volleyball temple every year, which professionals all over Europe rave about. Game three of the best-of-five series for the German championship had already taken place in front of a sold-out hall, and in the all-important fifth duel between the Berlin Volleys and VfB Friedrichshafen, 8,553 spectators left no seats free. In the end, they and their home team celebrated their successful title defense and a historic championship.
The volleys got off to a better start in the game because diagonal attacker Šotola was also able to generate a lot of pressure on the serve, which the guests didn’t seem to be able to cope with. The defending champions extended their lead to 9:3. But if this even series proved one thing, it was that Friedrichshafen would be much more resilient than many experts had previously believed. So VfB came within two points. In contrast to the first two games, which Berlin gave up despite taking the lead, this time the volleys remained consistent and took the first set 25:16.
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It’s almost ironic that an injury on the Berlin side heralded the turning point for the Volleys in the final series. Captain Ruben Schott suffered a sprain in the second game and continued to play with a splint on his left ankle from the third game onwards, but was visibly limited. For comparison: In the first game the statisticians counted 18 points for the German international, in the fourth game he only scored one.
Nevertheless, the Volleys now won because they were forced to find other, more creative solutions. In the last game of the season, setter Johannes Tille increasingly looked for his middle blockers Tobias Krick and Nehemiah Mote as well as outside attacker Timothée Carle, who was able to score at a high percentage even from the backfield. In addition, Šotola found his best form in time, and all Berliners found a much better serving rhythm than at the beginning of the final. In the end there were too many weapons that Friedrichshafen could no longer defuse.
In the second round it was Tille who almost single-handedly took a quick 5-0 lead from the service line. 120 decibels were now measured because the Berlin fans couldn’t stop cheering. This time the matter remained clear and the Berliners continuously increased their lead until the end of the sentence. Again it was 25:16. It slowly became clear that it would still be light outside when the Berlin master party started.
Two years ago, the Volleys were the first Bundesliga team ever to be able to turn around a 0-2 deficit in a final series – against the same opponent. “We know that no lead against Berlin is safe,” Friedrichshafen coach Mark Lebedev warned after his team’s initial successes at the start of the current series. In the end it didn’t help. “We know how it works,” Berlin’s Carle said confidently before game four. And although it was pretty close in Friedrichshafen with a set deficit of 1:2, Berlin managed to turn things around again, because they didn’t let anything go in the third set either. Krick’s block to make it 25:17 made the victory perfect.
Since 2012, Berlin has now won the Bundesliga title ten times. In the last eleven final series they always played against VfB, who only managed to spoil the game once. The 2024 championship was a very special one in the eternal duel, as both had now won 13 titles. After a year of shared rule, the BR Volleys can now call themselves the sole German record champions for the first time.
That was the team’s stated goal from the start of the season, but they are now facing a change. It is already clear that Timothée Carle will be leaving the Bundesliga after four extremely successful years. His new goal should be the financially stronger Polish league. Šotola is also likely to leave: after three years of training in Berlin, he is looking for his new home in Italy, they say. The salary and the basic level of play there are also significantly higher than in Germany.
However, volleys manager Kaweh Niroomand knows this situation and will probably bring a powerful team to the net again next season that is unrivaled in the Bundesliga. Ultimately, the opponents also lose important personnel: national player Erik Röhrs leaves bronze winner Lüneburg, runner-up Friedrichshafen even has to find a successor for coach Lebedev. But the 8,553 party guests didn’t care at all on Sunday afternoon. There’s still time tomorrow to worry about the future.
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