03/03/2016 22:03
BR Volleys pull out ‘4-0 win’ to secure spot in CEV Cup semis
2016 CEV Volleyball Cup - Men
Berlin, Germany, March 3, 2016. Making amends for the bitter away loss they had suffered two weeks ago in the first leg of the Challenge Round of the 2016 CEV Volleyball Cup – Men, Germany’s national cup winners BERLIN Recycling Volleys claimed a spot in the semis of Europe’s second most prestigious club competition after edging Finland’s VaLePa SASTAMALA in straight sets 3-0 (25-22, 32-30, 25-19) and claiming the golden set (15-11) that followed.
As these two teams were both searching for rhythm and consistency in the early stages of this clash, a tight match developed in the first set where neither the home side nor the visitors could pull away. VaLePa SASTAMALA, however, proved what they had already showed in the first match, i.e. that they are capable of putting on a fight against the bronze medallists of the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League. And indeed the Finns with outside spiker Olli Kunnari and opposite Jesus Danian Chourio claimed a two-point lead that they managed to carry through most of the set (8-6, 13-11, 18-16). After fighting back, the BERLIN Recycling Volleys could temporarily draw level. With powerful attacks by outside spiker Robert Kromm the 2016 German Cup winners came back and eventually their Australian opposite Paul Carroll hammered the ball down for 19-19. After that, the home side could steadily pull away (20-19, 23-21) and eventually turned this set to seal a 25-22 come-from-behind win.
Starting out energetically the home side managed to establish an early lead in the second set (8-4) and putting SASTAMALA under pressure with their strong service, BERLIN could prevent the visitors from finding their best game at this stage of the match (16-11). The Finns, however, did never slacken their grip taking point after point reducing the German lead down to two (16-14). However, as SASTAMALA seemed to have lost focus, BERLIN scored time and again pulling away to a 22-17 lead following a massive block by Nicolas Le Goff. The hosts claimed a series of set balls (24-20) but a thrilling clash for the win of the second set developed as both sides fought desperately for every single point and failed to capitalise on their opportunities to close the period (24-24, 26-26, 28-28, 30-30). Paul Carroll ultimately put an end to this nail-biting thriller at 32-30 for the home team.
After a close affair developed in the early stages of the third set, BERLIN could steadily build on their lead (9-7, 11-7). Even though the visitors managed to fight back and reduce their gap (14-12, 16-14, 18-16) they could never really close in and consequently BERLIN finished it off at 25-19 after putting enormous pressure on the opponent with both their serves and attacks.
4,129 spectators had come together hoping that the hosts would have fought their way back from their 3-1 away loss in Finland and the audience eventually got what they had come for: the decisive and dramatic golden set. Fighting courageously neither team allowed the other to pull away (2-1, 4-3, 6-5) but the home side made use of all their routine to erase any doubts about who was going to make it to the semi-finals of the CEV Volleyball Cup (15-11).
“Yeah,” Robert Kromm shouted out to the more than 4,000 spectators in attendance at Max-Schmeling-Halle. “We learnt our lesson in Finland - which definitely came at the right time. Today, we played with focus and a lot of energy and that gave us the win,” the BERLIN outside spiker said with a huge grin on his face. “It’s a great feeling - playing the golden set is something really special, we are just happy we made it happen!”
“The players of BERLIN Recycling Volleys did a really great job at serving, we played well, but the service of BERLIN gave us a hard time as we did not manage to side out,” a disappointed Ugis Krastins, the head coach of VaLePa SASTAMALA, commented after the match.
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