Mistake in Potsdam – sport

Herrsching’s volleyball players have also missed the final in Mannheim in their fourth DVV Cup semi-final since they were promoted to the first division six years ago. On Thursday evening they lost a nerve-racking game after 2-0 set lead 2: 3 (25:21, 28:26, 16:25, 22:25, 24:26) against the Netzhoppers from Königs Wusterhausen. The Netzhoppers, who have never reached the final either, will now play for their first big title on February 28th in the Mannheim SAP Arena. Opponents are then the United Volleys Frankfurt, who defeated the record cup winner VfB Friedrichshafen in the almost as exciting second semi-final with 16:14 points in the fifth set.

The setting was extremely unusual – for Königs Wusterhausen, who had promoted the German series champion Berlin out of the cup competition in the quarter-finals, and also for Herrsching. Because the game did not take place in the Brandenburg town of Königs Wusterhausen, as drawn, but in Potsdam, the arena of the local first division volleyball players. Blue, white and black seat shells dominated the picture on live TV. Because of the broadcast on sports television, the game was moved from the unsuitable hall in Königs Wusterhausen to Potsdam.

Herrsching is two sentences ahead. Then the nerves flutter

In the first set the strong defensive rows dominated the duel, Herrschings Libero Ferdinand Tille and his colleagues frustrated the Netzhoppers attackers time and again with impressive rescue acts. Soon Herrsching had worked out a three-point cushion that the team of coach Max Hauser should not lose – an attack error by the Netzhoppers, who were not quite as effective in this element as the Upper Bavarians, sealed the sentence.

After that, Königs Wusterhausen made fewer mistakes and held an easy lead. But the rulers succeeded, also thanks to an ace from outside attacker Tim Peter, the 21:21 equalization. The Netzhoppers were nervous, the referee whistled a technically unclean pass, 22:23. The set went into overtime, Herrsching, who was able to reinstate his diagonal man Jalen Penrose, who had been injured for weeks, was blocked. “That makes me angry,” said Hauser during the break that followed, and the emotional speech initially helped. His team converted the third set ball to 28:26 – again the Netzhoppers had knocked out the last attack.

After that, the slight favorite lost control of the game. After the weak third set, Herrsching played better again, but still made too many mistakes. Blocker Luuc van der Ent hit the last serve to equalize the set into the net. The usual nerve game began in the fifth set – and it ended terribly from the point of view of the current league player, who missed several match points and complained massively to the arbitration board after the heartbeat final at 24:26. That didn’t help either.