The Berlin block with Marek Sotola, Anton Brehme and Ruben Schott (from left to right) faces Perugia’s Wilfredo Leon Venero Photo: picture alliance/dpa
From BZ/dpa
The BR Volleys were shown their limits in the quarter-finals of the Volleyball Champions League.
In the first leg, the German champions deservedly lost 3-1 (18:25, 15:25, 25:23, 17:25) to the highly-favored club world champion Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia on Wednesday evening. The second leg next Wednesday in Perugia will decide who will reach the semi-finals.
In front of the season’s record crowd of 8,213 spectators in the Max-Schmeling-Halle, there were considerable quality differences between the two teams over long stretches. With the third round won, the Berliners at least made a sign of respect.
At first, the hosts kept up well. After an attack by Marek Sotola, they even led by two points (8:6). But the Italians, cleverly led by setter Simone Gianelli, quickly found their line. After a two-man block by Gianelli and Flavio Gualberto against Timothee Carle from Berlin to make it 17:14, Perugia finally acted confidently and continued to improve the result from then on.
After the first set, which was ultimately clearly lost, the BR volleys sometimes seemed overwhelmed in the second round. The assumption found no means against the outstanding serving Ukrainian Oleh Plotnytsky, even promising attacks from Sotola often stood in the way of the guest block.
The substitution of Cody Kessel gradually brought some life back into the BR Volleys game. In the third set, the team also benefited from the opponent’s somewhat more relaxed attitude. Under the frenetic cheers of the spectators, setter Johannes Tille shortened the lead to 1:2 with an ace on the first set point.
Warned by this, the Italians immediately turned up the heat again and finally created the basis for the four-set win with a service series by their star player Wilfredo Leon up to 17:12.