The Berlin Volleys have reached the quarterfinals of the Volleyball Champions League. On the penultimate day of the group stage, the German champions won 3:2 (24:26, 20:25, 27:25, 25:22, 15:12) at Zenit St. Petersburg after a big fight and a set deficit of 0:2.
The American Jeffry Jendryk turned the second match point into a surprise win in the tie-break on Wednesday. This means that the BR Volleys are already in first place in Pool D with 14 points before the last matchday. This Thursday (17.30 CET) St. Petersburg and BR Volleys meet again at the same place and conclude the group stage.
In the Sibur Arena of the Russian port city, the Bundesliga leaders met the favorites consistently at eye level. With good acceptance, the guests reduced the pressure on their opponent to serve. In attack, the outstanding Frenchman Timothee Carle converted the passes of setter Sergej Grankin into important points in a mostly spectacular way.
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The Berliners even put away a 5:10 deficit in the second set. At 16:16 they reached the tie again. But at 18:18 the thread broke briefly. St. Petersburg managed a 2-0 set lead with a 7-2 point series.
The resistance of the BR Volleys was only really awakened with that. In the third round, coach Cedric Enard’s team earned the first set ball through Ruben Schott at 24:24, and Carle converted the third. Winning the set took away all fear of the opponent from the Berliners. Three aces in a row by Schott made the preliminary decision 23:20 in the fourth period.
In the tiebreak, diagonal attacker Benjamin Patch was in great form and scored in important phases. St. Petersburg led in the deciding set for the last time with 6:5, after that the guest determined the events with intermediate scores of 10:6 and 13:10.