The Berlin Volleys suffered a defeat at the start of the playoff final for the German volleyball championship.
The defending champion lost the first of a maximum of five games on Saturday to cup winners VfB Friedrichshafen 3-2 (25:18, 27:25, 24:26, 21:25, 14:16).
In front of 4437 spectators in the Max-Schmeling-Halle, the capital club was already leading 2-0 in sets, could not use a match ball in the third round or in the tie-break and finally had to admit defeat. Both teams will see each other again in Ulm on Wednesday for the second game.
In the first set, diagonal attacker Benjamin Patch placed two powerful serves in a row directly in the opponent’s court to take a 13:10 lead. After that, the hosts’ initial tension eased. Ruben Schott and Timothee Carle in particular created clear conditions with consistent attacking actions.
The second round was overshadowed by Jeffrey Jendryk’s retirement. The Berlin middle blocker suffered a foot injury during a defensive action at the net when the score was 4:8 and had to be replaced by Georg Klein.
Thanks to strong serves from Klein, Carle and Schott, the Berliners made up for deficits again and again, fended off a set ball from VfB at 22:24, and then actually managed to turn the game around with an ace from Schott at 25:24.
After that, however, the BR Volleys lost control of the game. The team from Lake Constance stabilized mainly in the block. In the end Carle got a match point for the defending champion with the point to 24:23, but Friedrichshafen kept his nerve. The team of the former BR Volleys coach Mark Lebedew not only made it 1: 2, but then also equalized to make it 2: 2 in sets.
In the tie-break, the BR Volleys took the lead for the first time at 12:11 thanks to an ace by substitute Matthew West, but again were unable to use their match point at 14:13. The opponent was more consistent, with the last three points all being decided after video challenges.
