Volleyball – For the Berlin Volleys, forgot to recipe for success

Before the start of the final series against SVG Lüneburg, some questions had accumulated at the Berlin Volleys. How does the record champions get from the two -week break after the quick progress in the semi -finals? How good are the volleys really in shape after there were a small wobble against Königs Wusterhausen in the quarter -finals of the playoffs and Giesen was not too big in the semifinals? And the most important question: How much do the Berliners still have the last three games against Lüneburg in mind?

After the first game of the best-of-five series against the Lower Saxony, the volleys seem to have found positive answers to all of these questions. With a sovereign 3-0 win, the capitals set the first exclamation mark in the fight for the German championship on Sunday in front of 6552 fans in the Max-Schmeling-Halle. In none of the three sentences it got really tight. With 25:17, 25:21 and 25:19, the Berliners cooked the challenger. »Overall, a lot has gone very well today. That means we are trying to maintain it now, «Moritz Reichert analyzed soberly after the game.

Duels in mind

The MVP of the game had previously contributed to the victory of the volleys with 14 points and a constantly strong surcharge, but still saw improvement opportunities with his team: “I think there were a few balls on the assumption that you could have done a little better.” The Berliners want to stay vigilant because they have felt the comeback qualities of the young Lüneburg team several times this season.

After the first three duels had clearly gone to the Berliners this season, the tide turned in February. The Lower Saxony won in both German-German duels in the Champions League intermediate round-and then in the second leg in the Bundesliga. All three games went over the full distance of five sets, in the second leg of the Champions League even the all -important golden set was needed. “I think we couldn’t call up our level in these games. There was such a phase, there was a small trailer in it, “said national player Reichert and admitted that the defeat series had already played a role before the final:” Sure, it is in the back of the head that we want to show that we can be better. But it was also a long time ago, and in sports it is always very helpful if you forget such things relatively quickly. «

On Sunday the Berliners showed the desired bad memory. The volleys dominated the first set from the start. When Lüneburg made the 9: 9 equalizer for the Volleys in the second set after an early 7-2 lead, the Berliners remained calm and quickly stopped. And even in the third set, the volleys immediately countered an early series of premiums from the guests. While such weakness phases of the record champion in the past duels against the second of the main round led to whole set losses, the volleys recovered much faster on Sunday.

Banks wants more cold -bloodedness

It was no surprise for head coach Joel Banks: »There were many people who spoke about the last games against Lüneburg before the final. We closed this chapter, ”said the Briton, whose contract was extended by three years to 2028 last month, and added:» We looked at these games, we put the defeats, we learned from it. But we are now in a different phase of the season. ”In this phase, the capitals do not want to let their opponents come close as possible. That is why Banks was far from satisfied after the opening win: »We didn’t play badly, we played well. But there were opportunities in every set to be even more cold -blooded. “

In game one, the Lüneburger repeated the volleys the favor of sprinkling slight acceptance and service errors in the preliminary moments, so that no larger killer instinct was required. Already on Thursday, when Berlin guest the second game of the final series in Lüneburg, that should change. “We are prepared for a hard fight. Lüneburg will definitely play at a higher level, «warned Coach Banks. He expects a “cauldron” in which his team has to act even more concentrated.

This season, they have already demonstrated that the Lower Saxony defeats can put them away well against the volley. The carefreeness of the Lüneburgers, who are significantly younger with an average age of 23.3 years, than the record champions (27.9 years), was recently more valuable in the very close moments than the experience of Berliners. For this reason, too, the volleys should be very interested in giving no too much excitement in this finale as possible. So that the unpleasant memories of the sag two months ago do not return. An away win on Thursday would be just the right thing.