24/01/2016 11:11
Injury-plagued STUTTGART determined to fight to continue European campaign
2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women
Stuttgart, Germany, January 24, 2016. German rookies Allianz MTV STUTTGART will be hosting Azerrail BAKU this coming Wednesday for their last home match in Pool A of the 2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women. They are quite tired as they have had a tight schedule lately with three matches in their national league plus a trip to Russia to play 2014 gold medallists and Pool leaders Dinamo KAZAN in the fifth round of Europe’s elite competition.
The team and their cosmopolite coaching staff (which includes Spanish, Greek and German guys) are waiting for a key moment in their first participation in Europe’s premier club competition. If they lose to Azerrail, this will put an early end to STUTTGART premiere season in the CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League. With a win and a little luck, Allianz MTV will still stand a chance of moving on to the Challenge Round of the CEV Volleyball Cup as one of the best third-ranked teams across all pools, and of course this same goal is being shared and pursued by Azerrail.
But the batteries are empty. The power stand-by unit has to take over. The strenuous schedule with matches on Wednesdays and Saturdays is taking its toll from the small roster of the German team. After a snowstorm-related delay, travelling to and from Kazan, and one night at the airport of the capital of Tatarstan with no sleep at all, Allianz MTV STUTTGART had only one practice to recover from their fatigue. As a result, on Saturday STUTTGART lost a Bundesliga match versus the currently eighth-ranked VT Aurubis HAMBURG at the tie-break (13-15). “I can’t blame the girls. They are tired and worn out,” said their coach Guillermo Naranjo Hernandez after the loss.
In the meantime there even more bad news concerning injuries. After losing top-scorer Renata Sandor who will be out for the remainder of the season due to a major knee injury she suffered in the Round 2 match versus Dinamo KAZAN, Norway’s Mari Aase Hole sustained a major damage on her right shoulder during a test match versus Volero ZÜRICH in the first week of January.
“We tried everything to cope with the injury of Renata, and now this,” said a disappointed Manager Bernhard Lobmüller. “We were very happy with the skills and the personality of Mari, but although we had another week to sign a new player, we won’t. We have to work from match to match.” Hole will soon undergo surgery in Stuttgart and is possibly going to stay with the team for the 2016/2017 season.
No time to recharge, and the crunch time is yet to come. Allianz MTV STUTTGART are preparing for the ‘big final’ of their national cup and also for the Playoffs of the Bundesliga. “It is a totally weird situation. Your mind tells your body what to do, but the body is not listening,” said team captain Kim Renkema. “This is so frustrating.”
At least the players of Allianz MTV can rely on their fans. After losing set 1 and 2 versus VT Aurubis HAMBURG, and falling back in set 3 by 9-16, 1,640 spectators in the SCHARRena, STUTTGART‘s home gym, pushed their team with a lot of passion and they were eventually rewarded with a tie-break. Such a unique and goose bumps causing atmosphere is expected to materialise again this coming Wednesday, when Azerrail BAKU and Allianz MTV STUTTGART will be fighting for the right to continue their European adventure this season.
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