The Berlin Volleys started the semi-finals of the German Volleyball Championship with a hard-fought victory. In the first game of the Best of Five playoff series, the defending champions beat United Volleys Frankfurt 3-1 at home on Wednesday (25:20, 25:17, 22:25, 25:23).
In front of 2567 spectators, the BR Volleys were only able to fully convince in the first two sets. Consistently completed attacks by Benjamin Patch, Timothee Carle and Ruben Schott gave the team the decisive advantage. The hosts’ block defense also proved to be a difficult obstacle for the Hessians in this phase.
In the first set, Frankfurt quickly led 3-0. But the BR Volleys were unimpressed. Setter Sergej Grankin provided the first five-point lead for the capital club with the 16:11, which then definitely won this round.
However, the Frankfurters by no means gave up even after the clearly lost second round. When the BR Volleys were hit by a phase of weakness in the third set, the guests were immediately present and left their mark on the action with a six-point lead (20:14).
Both teams fought a head-to-head race with alternating leads in the fourth round. Schott got the first match ball for the hosts, a block of three by the Berliners finally got the decisive point to 25:23.
Both teams will meet again on Saturday for the second encounter in the Main metropolis.
