Moscow, Russia, April 12, 2017. On Wednesday night, Germany’s BERLIN Recycling Volleys caused another sensation – and they did so by rallying to their second 3-2 victory in as many matches with Dinamo MOSCOW to book a ticket to the Final Four of the 2017 CEV Volleyball Champions League – Men! The BR Volleys will be making their second appearance in the final stage of Europe’s elite club competition after they hosted it in 2015 when they finished in third place.

The score remained close up to 11-all in the first set before Dinamo MOSCOW edged ahead for the first time with the help of Alexander Markin. The BR Volleys responded immediately with two aces in a row from Aleksandar Okolic and after a break asked by the Russian coach, both teams opted for their middle blockers to score a couple of points. Pavel Kruglov replaced Konstantin Bakun at 20-20 before Dinamo had a set point at 24-23. The Italian-born coach of the BR Volleys, Roberto Serniotti, stopped the match and this move produced the desired effect as Dmitry Shcherbinin served into the net. The fight continued well into overtime – with the visitors emerging victorious at 37-35 after a double block on Kruglov.

Dinamo fought back in the second set and even though the BR Volleys put up a fight, the Muscovites retained a comfortable lead (12-9, 16-12). The Germans closed in at 19-17 with the help of Robert Kromm, but Dinamo MOSCOW did not tremble and Yury Berezhko sealed the final 25-22 for the hosts.

The BR Volleys set the pace at the beginning of the third set but with the return of Bakun, Dinamo MOSCOW edged ahead at 8-6. However, Kromm caused again some troubles to the Russian receivers with his mighty serves and the BR Volleys rallied to a 14-11 lead. Dinamo also struggled to stop Paul Carroll but with the contribution of Sergey Grankin, the hosts eventually flipped the charts around at 21-20. Sergey Antipkin helped the Russian side widen their lead (23-20) and an ace from Alexander Volkov eventually closed the set 25-21 in favour of Dinamo.

The course of the game changed again in the fourth sets where the BR Volleys cruised to a compelling 13-6 lead to keep a margin of six points at the second technical time-out. Even though he had suffered a minor injury, Berezhko continued to play with much courage but the BR Volleys could count on their massive blocks to stamp a 25-15 win and go for the tiebreak.

Both teams started the all-deciding fifth set with their ‘original’ line-ups. The BR Volleys were off to the better start (4-1) and were still ahead at the side switch (8-4). The visitors from Germany continued to play at a high tempo and made good use of their middle blockers. They showed remarkable composure also towards the end of the set before an attack from Okolic sealed a 15-8 win – and with it, the party in the German camp could get started.

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