Posojilnica AICH/DOB secure third Austrian national league title
News from the National Federations
Bleiburg, Austria, April 25, 2019. Posojilnica AICH/DOB secured on Wednesday night their third title in the Austrian national league to go with the accolades they claimed in 2013 and 2018. The defending champions delighted some 900 spectators – including the head coach of the Austrian national team, Michael Warm – to win the fifth match of the championship series with Union Raiffeisen WALDVIERTEL (URW) 3-0 (29-27, 25-21, 25-20) and end the ‘best of seven’ run 4-1 in their favour. The URW proved to be a worthy, well-prepared opponent, but they rarely managed to take advantage of the many opportunities they had.
After losing the last match 0-3 in Zwettl, Posojilnica had to come back strong. Still, they produced many service errors, and even in attack, they lacked efficiency. However, their opponents were not able to capitalise on the opportunities they had, especially due to their poor reception. Posojilnica came from behind and eventually won the first set 29-27 after cancelling a set ball for URW.
The second set was initially close, before URW edged ahead 15-11. However, once again, they could not cope with the pressure. A service series by Matej Mihajlovic changed the course of the set, with Posojilnica eventually sealing a 25-21 win. Unlike in sets one and two, the home side set the pace in the third one, moving the score from 7-7 to 14-8 and after 85 minutes, Mihajlovic cashed the first match ball (25-20) to trigger the party.
Top scorers were Matej Mihajlovic (21), Matej Kök (13) and Federico Franetovich (8) for Posojilnica; Dawid Siwczyk (17), Lukasz Szarek (9) and Lars Bornemann (7) scored the most points for WALDVIERTEL.
Posojilnica AICH/DOB libero Manuel Steiner: “That was a fight! It was a weird game, and the way it developed suggests that both teams were nervous.”
Posojilnica AICH/DOB middle blocker Nicolai Grabmüller: “I am very proud that we made it. It was difficult. We knew we had to pull ourselves together after the heavy loss in the previous round.”
URW outside hitter Lars Bornemann: “On Sunday we were super-efficient when we were ahead in the score, but today we let it slip out of our hands. We wanted to win again, but I congratulate AICH/DOB, as they deserve the title.”
URW libero Leonhard Tille: “It feels bitter, because in the first two sets we had the chance to close them in our favour. Next year we will try again, because the goal is to finish first and this time we did see that we stand a real chance at achieving this goal.”
Source: [www.cev.eu](http://www.cev.eu)
Posted in International on Apr 26, 2019
