04/07/2015 22:43
Austria off to perfect start with second home victory in European League opening weekend
2015 CEV Volleyball European League - Men
Enns, Austria, July 4, 2015. This is what they call a perfect start. The Austrian Volleyball national team just started their campaign in the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League with two wins versus Israel. After the 3:0 they stamped on Friday, the home heroes cruised on Saturday to a 3:1 victory (25-22, 25-18, 24-26, 25-20) at the local Sporthalle in Enns, with 400 fans in attendance.
In the first set the visitors could keep the pace of the home side for a long time (7:8, 16:15, 21:19) before Austria prevailed in the end (25-22). After another close start (8:7) the local heroes broke away and accelerated the tempo of their game after the second technical time-out (16:13, 21:14). In the third stanza the hosts had a little drop of concentration and Israel set the pace of the game for most of the time (5:8, 14:16, 20:21). Although the Austrian team attempted a comeback, in the end they had to drop their first set of the weekend to the Israelis (24-26). However, middle blocker Peter Wohlfahrtstätter and his team were not reeled from this setback and won the fourth set by cashing their first match ball at 25-20.
Tamir Hershko of Israel topped the scorers’ charts with 21 points followed by an Austrian trio including Thomas Tröthann (20), Lorenz Koraimann (19) and team captain Alexander Berger (15).
Up next is Poland
After the home duels with Israel, Austria will continue their campaign in the 2015 CEV Volleyball European League playing Poland, Estonia, the F.Y.R. of Macedonia and Denmark. Austria will be playing Poland, the reigning world champions, already on July 10 and 11, and the Poles are playing in the European League with their second team, including many of the players who recently finished in fourth place at the Baku 2015 European Games.
All in all twelve teams compete for the title. Winning the CEV Volleyball European League represents nothing less than a starting place in the 2016 edition of the FIVB Volleyball World League. Austria’s mentor Michael Warm says: “All teams are focused on the World League. But our primary goal is first the qualification for the Final Four of the European League which is most probably going to take place in Poland.”
Warm commented after his team’s second victory over Israel: “With two wins we have caught a perfect start. Today it was a really sizzling battle. The high temperatures of these days were having an impact on our performance. In the first two sets we were able to stand these demanding conditions. But in the third set we did not have that much energy anymore. Nevertheless in the fourth set we had the match under control again. On Wednesday we travel to Poland. This will be an even tougher task!”
The Israeli team captain Alexander Osokin deserved compliments to the Austrian team. “They are a great team. Up to four or five years ago I would have never joined a match against Austria. Back then the balance of power was completely reversed.”
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