An the day after the United Volleys were eliminated in the round of 16 of the CEV Cup, Christophe Acht mourned the missed opportunity. The coach of the Hessian volleyball team would have loved to welcome the Polish top club Skra Belchátow in the coming round of the European competition in Frankfurt, a team that everyone should strive to play against, “otherwise they won’t fit into my team,” emphasized the Belgian.
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On the other hand, the runners-up in the main round would like to continue playing an important role in their own national class, the Bundesliga, and if possible advance to the final. Due to injury-related absences, the burden on the other regular players is currently very high; remaining in European competition would have been counterproductive.
But on Friday, a few hours after returning from Romania, the disappointment was still too fresh for the ambitious coach to hide it. With 0: 3 (24:26, 13:25, 17:25) and 2: 3 (20:25, 29:27, 27:25, 25:27, 11:15) the Hessians were inferior to the CSM Arcada Galati . The audience in the Dunărea sports hall in the city on the Moldovan border, which was reduced due to the pandemic, had seen two very different games. After the clear defeat on Tuesday, the Frankfurters rebelled two days later with great will against elimination.
injuries and corona cases
First they turned a 0:1 set deficit, then in the fourth round at 24:23 they had set up a first match ball, which eighth saw converted from the edge of the field because the antenna on the outside of the net wobbled after an attack hit by the Romanians. But the point went to Galati, and after the volleys also missed the second match point and thus scraped past the golden set, the favorites didn’t pass up the opportunity to level. After the confident first appearance, Galati was enough with the two set points to make it into the quarter-finals.
“I didn’t think that we would take such a big step from one game to the next,” said a positive comment. He hardly had any opportunities to rotate: Both top scorer Daniel Malescha and second setter Byron Keturakis did not fly east due to injuries and are not expected to return to the team until the beginning of the week. Since mid-November, his team has “not trained normally”. In addition to injuries, several corona cases successively reduced the squad. “You have to get back into the right rhythm first,” apologies Acht.
The next problem arises before the start of the Bundesliga intermediate round on January 30 at VfB Friedrichshafen, fourth in the main round: According to his coach, middle blocker Paul Henning played his last volley game in Romania. The 24-year-old apparently wants to try to gain a foothold as a national player in beach volleyball. 19-year-old Lennart Heckel, who is earmarked as a replacement although not of the same quality as the exit, will have to pass another medical test ahead of a possible contract signing on Monday.
The gap left by strong winger Robin Baghdady when he tore double ligaments in his right foot and a hairline fracture in his right foot at the end of November is not to be filled with a new signing, the volleys are awaiting his recovery. Despite the extension of the federal government’s Corona aid until the end of March, the budget is tight. This is one of the reasons why the Volleys agreed to move their CEV Cup home game to Romania. Every performance in the empty ball sports hall drives up expenses. In addition, Galati contributed to the costs of the Frankfurter for the extended trip to Romania. So they had twice the reason to give up the home field advantage.
