Dhe award ceremony was not even half an hour old when the first man approached with a floor broom late on Sunday evening – and wiped away the traces of the exuberant celebrations on the small gallery in the hall, where the players of the new volleyball champion Allianz MTV Stuttgart scooped up the winner’s trophy in a shower of golden snippets held up and squirted champagne.
With Swabian accuracy, the Stuttgart players had previously won the fifth and last game of the final series against SC Potsdam 3-0 – and thus won the second national competition this season after winning the cup.
Crazy twists
Overall, it was a dramatic, rousing and also outstanding final. With surprising victories and sometimes crazy twists and turns.
On Friday, Potsdam had awarded two match balls for the first championship in the club’s history in their own arena. “The title is therefore all the more emotional for all of us,” confessed Stuttgart’s outside attacker Simone Lee, who scored 18 points together with Krystal Rivers in the last game.
“Potsdam demanded everything from us”
The Stuttgart audience in the sold-out hall with 2,251 spectators also recognized the fact that the Brandenburg women played so big and captivatingly in their first final. They applauded the defeated team loudly and standing up, and it was by no means just pure politeness that made them do so , but appreciative respect. “Potsdam demanded everything from us and pushed us all to the limit,” praised Lee.
Together with her compatriot Rivers, the American was one of the most conspicuous players in attack on Sunday. Lee is able to hit extreme angles like no other.
Potsdam mentally cracked
From the start, Stuttgart was very bold and concentrated. “Even before the game, I could see in the players’ bright eyes that they didn’t want to let that go,” said Stuttgart’s sporting director Kim Renkema.
Potsdam, on the other hand, seemed a bit mentally and physically cracked after the missed opportunity. “Stuttgart was superior to us in every respect,” said Potsdam coach Guillermo Naranjo Hernández.
Mon – Fri at 4 p.m.; Sat – Sun at 6 p.m
SIGN IN
The former Stuttgart head coach still mourned the two missed match points. “I can’t look into the heads of my players, but they were already broken after the fourth game.”
The Spaniard once won two cups with MTV and is still waiting for a championship title after losing three finals with Stuttgart. Stuttgart didn’t win the fourth game on Friday, said Hernández, “we lost it”.
His counterpart, Tore Aleksandersen, didn’t want to engage in such discussions. The Norwegian preferred to praise his team, who, when it mattered most, “played really well in attack and acceptance,” as he said. The 54-year-old had already won two German championship titles with Schwerin.
“Will also have a great team next season”
He is considered a coach who can make the players better and also tactically raise the team to a higher level. Overall, the Stuttgart women play even more variably, even faster than in previous years.
Above all, with Lee and Rivers they have two pros who can sweep their teammates away with their power, dedication and precision. “We’ll have a great team again next season,” said Aleksandersen.
Then Stuttgart can play in the Champions League again. Participation in the most important European competition is one of the reasons why Rivers and Lee, who are being courted by well-known European clubs, have nevertheless signed for another season with MTV Stuttgart.
“I want to measure myself against the best players,” emphasized the powerful jumper Lee, who clearly improved acceptance in Stuttgart. Lee and Rivers complement each other perfectly as Rivers’ medical history – she was born with serious birth defects and had cancer – requires her to take breaks from time to time.
“We had the necessary luck this time”
Rivers is in her fourth season for Stuttgart and has already won a league title in 2019. Last year, the 27-year-old missed the last two finals against Dresden, Stuttgart lost in the fifth game after MTV had won the first two.
“We never gave up in the series against Potsdam and fought for each other for every ball,” said Rivers, only to add after a short art break: “But this time we were also lucky.”
Maybe it was the superstition of MTV CEO Aurel Irion. Before the last game, he got the same black outfit out of the closet that he had worn in the final game in 2019. “We had to change something,” said Irion, adding with a wink: “It didn’t do any harm. And they were washed too.”
