What a struggle, what excitement and what a success! The volleyball players from VfB Suhl win the cup again after 18 years. The game against champions MTV Stuttgart was decided in the fifth set.
It was an epic finale in Mannheim! And the VfB Suhl volleyball players held their nerve after more than two hours and beat MTV Stuttgart 3-2 (25:17, 25:18, 15:25, 23:25, 15:13) in front of 12,000 spectators in Mannheim. After the match point there was no stopping the Thuringians. The previous week, Suhl had already inflicted their first defeat of the season on the German champions in the Wolfsgrube.
Berger: “We won gold, that’s amazing”
“It was unbelievable. I never expected that we would start so well in the first two sets. Then the nerves caught up with me. Winning in this hall is crazy. In the last set we said to ourselves: It starts all over again. We got gold, that’s crazy,” cheered Laura Berger on “Dyn”.
Mackenzie Foley (VfB Suhl) and Pia Kästner (Stuttgart) at the net
Suhl got off to an optimal start
In the hall, which was sold out for the first time with more than 12,000 fans, the outsiders from Thuringia started furiously. Thanks to a strong serve game and led by Bundesliga top scorer Monika Brancuska, Suhl was quickly well ahead and took the first set without any major problems. As in the first round, Stuttgart coach Konstantin Bitter had to take an early time-out in the second set at 0:4. VfB remained the better team. McKenzie Foley made it 14:8. Stuttgart around the national players Pia Kästner and Antonia Stautz did not find their way into the game. The Thuringians grew beyond themselves even far away from the Wolfsgrube.
Varela’s aces give Stuttgart hope – Suhl catches up 11:13 in the fifth set
Then the favorite woke up and was able to gain a small cushion for the first time. Lucia Varela made it 15:7 with five aces in a row. In the fourth set, Suhl regained the momentum and quickly took a clear lead again. This time MTV fought back. There was the tiebreak in which VfB started better again, but then made too many mistakes. But Suhl kept his nerve even when he was 11:13 behind and won the title in a long rally.
Emma Sambale (VfB Suhl LOTTO Thuringia) cheers.
SpiO/dpa
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