Diagonal attacker Marek Sotola offered an outstanding performance in the Berlin attack Photo: picture alliance / Andreas Gora
From BZ/dpa
The BR Volleys caused a surprise in the Volleyball Champions League.
On the third day of the group stage, the German champions deservedly won 3-1 (25:21, 20:25, 29:27, 27:25) at Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie on Wednesday.
The guests offered their best performance of the season so far against the previously unbeaten leaders of Group B. Marek Sotola was the outstanding attacker in the winner, while libero Satoshi Tsuiki held the defense together.
With five out of a possible nine points, the BR Volleys have kept their chances of reaching the quarter-finals, especially since they are playing two of the three games of the second half of the season at home. Only the winners of the five groups of four qualify directly for the round of the last eight teams. The remaining quarter-finalists will be determined in playoffs between the runners-up and the best third-placed group.
In the Centrum Dabrowa Gornicza, the first set went according to the ideas of the Bundesliga leaders. Diagonal attacker Sotola collected point after point in his dynamic way, in defense around the Japanese Tsuiki the guests managed many spectacular saves. In the crunch time of this round, two millimeter decisions based on video evidence helped the guests to score important points.
Even the lost second round didn’t throw the Berlin team off course. With a good serve and still stable defense, they caused considerable problems for the Polish championship third. In addition, in the last two sets, the team showed their strong nerves in critical phases, which they have already proven in Bundesliga games.
So the third round was only decided with the fifth set ball, the acclaimed final point was then set by the BR Volleys with the third match point.