19/03/2016 21:21
BR Volleys secure historic qualification for CEV Cup finals with speedy home win
2016 CEV Volleyball Cup - Men
Berlin, Germany, March 19, 2016. As they wrote history on Saturday night, Germany’s BERLIN Recycling Volleys secured their spot in the 2016 CEV Volleyball Cup finals after seeing off Belgian standout Knack ROESELARE in straight sets 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-18) in front of 4,922 spectators at Max-Schmeling-Halle. The bronze medallists of the 2015 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League will now play Russia’s sensation Gazprom-Ugra SURGUT in the finals scheduled for March 29 and April 2, 2016.
4,922 fans came to see an unexpectedly straight and speedy win for the home side. Both teams started out energetically into the first set, highly motivated to write history for their club or to fight back after a bitter tie-break home loss, respectively. This resulted in a number of long rallies at the very beginning of the match. Fighting for every single ball neither side did slacken their grip at this early stage of the match. The BR Volleys did well especially at serving and in attack and so they managed to take a first small lead (7-4) but Knack ROESELARE were able to keep the score tight for a while (8-6, 9-7). The home side enthusiastically cheered on by their crowd appeared as if they were able to even add more pressure to their service. Making use of this asset, the team of head coach Roberto Serniotti pulled away not allowing ROESELARE to find their rhythm but just to react (13-7, 16-8). At 25-14 the home side sealed their first set win in the match.
The second set turned out to be much tighter, even though the home side never really appeared on the brick of losing control of the game. Both teams yet again started out fighting for every single ball with BERLIN still strong in every aspect - but especially improved in reception compared to last Tuesday - taking an early lead (8-5). ROESELARE did not give up as they kept the gap to a minimum (10-8). Dominant in service and attack the hosts were able to crucially pull away in the middle of the set (14-11, 18-14) – with Paul Carroll (pictured, #12, who scored 20 points in the end) and Robert Kromm (13 points) driving the home team’s play. The visitors never really found the level of performance they had shown earlier this week when playing at home and still struggled to come into play. Eventually it was outside spiker Robert Kromm who hammered in the 25-21 set win for the BR Volleys.
The Belgian champions could only hope for minutes to be able to come back. As BERLIN seemed to have lost focus in the beginning of the third set allowing the visitors to play their own game, ROESELARE started to close the gap after they had trailed in the early stages of the set (8-5, 12-12). However, yet again BERLIN re-gained control over the match, pulling away slowly but surely (14-13, 17-13) and not allowing the Belgian team to come back anymore (23-15, 25-18).
“I am absolutely happy about the win and with the way we played tonight,” Roberto Serniotti said after the match, adding: “We showed the highest level we are currently capable of. I’m happy for every player to be fit – we now hope for Tomas Kmet to return quickly!” The Italian mentor saw the advantages for his side in mainly two aspects: “Compared to last Tuesday we did much better in receiving the ball and we were focussed right from the beginning and kept our focus through to the end.” The coach dedicated the victory to his son: “He has just turned 18,” he said.
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