Volley Amriswil Swiss Champion 2022 after triumph against Chênois
volleyball
After the cup victory, now also the championship title: Volley Amriswil gets the “double”
The titles are back in Thurgau. Volley Amriswil also wins the third playoff final game against Chênois and becomes Swiss champion for the fifth time. The Thurgau are thus taking revenge for the lost final against the Geneva team a year ago.
Amriswil is no longer a top team in Swiss volleyball. The Thurgau have been a champion team again since Sunday. The team of outgoing coach Juan Manuel Serramalera won the 2022 playoff final against Chênois with a 3-0 win in their favour. The last game on Sunday, a smooth 3-0 win, was the highlight of a thoroughly convincing season.
The people of Amriswil didn’t give the title holder Chênois the slightest chance in front of 1187 euphoric spectators in their Tellenfeldhalle. The first set was a real show of power at 25:13. Then the cup winner switched gears and steered the further sets with a 25:21 each, but still very sovereign, in his favor.
A dream has come true for Ramon Diem
Chênois struggled to get into the game. Libero Etienne Hagenbuch also complained about the attitude in his team. “There was no more will to win, no fighting spirit.” The Amriswiler characterized that they showed practically no weaknesses under coach Serramalera. So they successfully got revenge for the lost final against Geneva a year ago, which had led to the original disempowerment of coach Marko Klok.
“Juan wrote a lot with us players in the technical field,” says Amriswil’s libero Ramon Diem about the Argentine coach, who is leaving Amriswil for family reasons after one season. “But he stood quietly on the sidelines during the parties.”
In the one season with Serramalera, a steady development took place in Oberthurgau. Diem is also a support of the team today in the libero position. The 19 year old says:
“For me, winning the championship is a dream come true. As a seven-year-old, I watched others become champions here. It’s me now.”
Two key players leave Amriswil
The fifth championship title after 2009, 2010, 2016 and 2017 is a milestone for Volley Amriswil and makes President Martin Salvisberg proud. “Especially for the many helpers, our fans and anyway everyone who supports us in any way,” he says. “That’s what we’ve been working towards.” In the most recent championship title, the Thurgau managed to use the great potential that had been in the squad in previous years, even in the crucial phases. Finally, one is inclined to say.
Serramalera managed to form a functioning team from individually strong volleyball players. With Luis Sosa and Milijailliard, the Amriswiler naturally had two players in the squad who are actually too good for the Swiss NLA. Outside attacker Sosa, who came to Thurgau from the world-class Italian team Trentino, used the season to recover from a long injury. The Brazilian will leave Volley Amriswil again in the direction of a top league.
A relief for coach Serramalera
Diagonal attacker Miraq will also not be there next season. Amriswil’s top scorer will end his career or at least let lucrative ones end elsewhere. Nevertheless, sports director René Zweifel says:
“There will be fewer changes in the squad in the summer than in previous years.”
Juan Manuel Serramalera will leave Volley Amriswil “very happy and satisfied”, as the master coach says. The cup win and the championship title were also a relief for him. “Because nothing was given to us. And yet we achieved all of our goals this season.”
Amriswil – Chênois 3: 0 (25:13, 25:21, 25:21)
Tellenfeld – 1187 spectators – SR Schürmann / Simonovic.
Amriswil: Björn Höhne, Mischa von Burg, Milija Jungsak, Luis Sosa, Facundo Imhoff, Dima Filippov, Ramon Diem (Libero).
Chenois: Kilian Eaton, Dejan Radic, Tom Liot, Corey Chavers, Maikel van Zeist, Strahinja Brzakovic, Etienne Hagenbuch (Libero).
Amriswil wins the playoff final 3-0 and is Swiss champion for the fifth time after 2009, 2010, 2016 and 2017.