This is how the BR Volleys want to celebrate on Tuesday in the Champions League home game against Ankara (archive photo) Photo: picture alliance / contrastphoto | O.Behrendt
From BZ/dpa
The BR Volleys did their duty ahead of their landmark Champions League encounter. Three days before the game against Halkbank Ankara, the Berliners in the Bundesliga dealt with the penultimate TSV Haching 3-0 in a fast-track procedure.
“The game against Ankara wasn’t really in my head yet,” admitted the outside attacker Anti Ronkainen after the tenth win in the tenth league game on Saturday, “but from now on we’re obviously looking forward to our appearance in the Champions League.”
The Turkish runner-up from Ankara poses a much greater challenge for the volleys in their fourth group game in the premier class. Especially since this game can already be crucial for progress.
The game against Haching was only partially suitable as a real dress rehearsal for the Champions League. Trainer Cedric Enard had mainly sent players onto the field who had not had much playing time this season. This showed how heavily occupied the substitute bench of the BR Volleys and from there a performance boost can be expected at any time in any position in critical game situations.
Volleys coach Cedric Enard had used the second guard against Haching to rest the top players for the Ankara game Photo: dpa/Andreas Gora
“Our serve made a lot of things easier for us, so we always had access in the block,” Ronkainen analyzed the one-sided game against Haching. The Finnish winger got five aces alone. “We prepared ourselves conscientiously and implemented the tactical instructions of the coach,” said the very solid diagonal attacker Matheus Krauchuk.
After the duty, the freestyle should follow: Against Ankara on Tuesday it is time to take revenge for the 1:3 defeat in the first leg in the Turkish capital. It was the BR Volleys’ only defeat so far in their 18 competitive games (including the Bounce House Cup) this season.