Netzhoppers attacker Theo Timmermann missed two balls in the decisive phase of the extension of the sentence (archive photo) Photo: rscp
From BZ/dpa
The Netzhoppers KW-Bestensee started the volleyball Bundesliga with a tie-break defeat.
On the first day of the new season, the Brandenburgers lost to the Grizzlies Giesen 2:3 (26:28, 25:18, 23:25, 25:20, 10:15). In front of 415 spectators in the Landkost Arena in Bettensee, both teams did not play a high-class game, but it was always an exciting game at eye level. In the end, Lorenz Karlitzek converted the first match ball.
The Netzhoppers lost the first round not least because attacker Theo Timmermann missed two balls to 25:26 and 26:28 in the decisive phase of the extension of the sentence. At 25:24, the hosts for their part gave a set ball.
The substitution of Mario Schmidgall, who replaced Byron Keturakis on the set for a while, had a stimulating effect on the Brandenburg game. Diagonal attacker Randy Deweese also came into his own better from then on. But the Gieseners remained an extremely tough and uncomfortable opponent with their emotional style of play. It went into the tie break. After a 9:9 score, the Lower Saxony were able to pull away with three points and could not be dissuaded from the road to success after that.
Before the game, libero Kamil Ratajczak was bid farewell by club president Edmund Ahlers after ten years as a regular at Netzhoppers. Born in Poland, he ended his volleyball career at the age of 37.