The Berlin Volleys failed in the semifinals of the German Volleyball Cup in a five-set thriller!
At the weakened VfB Friedrichshafen in Ulm, the German champions lost 2: 3 (25:22, 15:25, 25:18, 14:25, 12:15) on Wednesday despite a 2:1 lead in the set and thus missed the move into the league endgame. The capital club had previously remained undefeated in 26 competitive games across the season. Friedrichshafen meets SVG Lüneburg in the final on March 6th in Mannheim.
The BR Volleys acted nervously over long stretches. The team had an unusually high error rate, especially on the serve. Only when VfB middle blocker Lukas Maase put an attack ball just wide of the line did the guests take the lead for the first time at 15:14. A block by Jeffrey Jendryk at 23:19 finally showed the volleys the way to winning the set.
The resistance of VfB was by no means broken. The team from Lake Constance performed with a lot of passion, but also benefited greatly from the sometimes erratic actions of the opponent. For the volleys, the second round ended in a 15:25 fiasco. VfB dominated even more clearly in the fourth set (25:14).
In the meantime, the Berliners had reared up again with much improved block defense. But top performers like Benjamin Patch and Sergej Grankin remained below their usual level during this phase.
For the first time this season, the guests had to go into the tie-break. There, an ace by Vojin Cacic gave VfB a two-point lead (7:5), which the team extended through the intermediate scores of 9:6 and 12:8 to a surprise victory.