The Berlin Volleys suffered their first defeat of the season in the Volleyball Bundesliga. The German champion narrowly lost the prestige duel at VfB Friedrichshafen on Saturday evening after a five-set thriller and somewhat unluckily with 2:3 (27:29, 25:20, 23:25, 27:25, 12:15). For the two sets won, the guests took at least one of the three possible points with them on the long journey home. With 31 points after eleven games, the Berliners remain the sole leaders. The team from Lake Constance has 22 points in two fewer games.
Volleys coach Cedric Enard had changed his starting lineup to two positions. In the middle block, the 2.14 meter tall Saso Stalekar came on for Nehemiah Mote, with Adam Kowalski playing the libero in place of Satoshi Tsuiki.
In the final phase of the first round, the Berliners carelessly gambled away a comfortable 21:15 lead. The guests were also unable to use four set balls. An attacking shot by Ruben Schott gave VfB an advantage of 26:25 in the overtime for the first time, the third set point decided in favor of the hosts.
After the Berliners had equalized the set 1:1 thanks to their powerful serves, they were also on the road to success in the third section with a 23:21 lead, achieved by Anton Brehme. But again the game tilted in favor of Friedrichshafen. Again Schott hit a ball decisively to 23:25 into touch.
The morale of the BR Volleys was by no means broken. After defending against two of the opponent’s match points in the fourth round, the Berliners saved themselves in the tie-break, in which the opponent pulled ahead decisively at 10:7 when outside attacker Vojin Cacic served.
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