Hachinger Löwen show that they are competitive in the Bundesliga

Unterhaching – The volleyball players from TSV Haching Munich delivered a terrific fight at the Netzhoppers KW-Bestensee. And although the home side from Brandenburg had the upper hand in the end with 3:2 (21:16, 21:16, 21:25, 24:26, 15:11), the effort, which defeated TSV an away point, paid off: “This point is like a win for us,” beamed Bogdan Tanase. There were several reasons why the lion coach was so happy about this narrow defeat. His team indicated that they could also trip up an established Bundesliga team. “I think a win would have been possible,” said setter Eric Paduretu, “but for a start we’re happy to have picked up a point away from home.”

The personnel requirements, which were not exactly optimal, also enhanced the result. Jere Heiskanen didn’t make the trip at all, with Patrick Rupprecht and Quentin Zeller there were two other wing attackers in the squad, both of whom were only used briefly. So the diagonal player Philipp Schumann and the inexperienced Florian Krenkel started on the outside position. Because Paul Gehringer, a middle blocker, was also not in good health, there were also no alternatives to Mark Gumenjuk and Sebastian Rösler.

According to these unfavorable circumstances, it initially looked like a hearty smack. After 16:25 in the first set, TSV was 3:13 behind in the second. But now the lions woke up. Already in the further course of this section, which ended again at 16:25, they showed a positive score of 13:12. And Tanase seemed to find the right words to capitalize on that momentum. “I said to the team before the third set: Don’t think about the result. Remember to play nice volleyball. Then we had a different attitude, we also had a different speed in the game and we got better on the serve.”

After a curious first set ball, when Krenkel was just able to dodge a Netzhoppers-Bagger flying out of bounds, Hachinger won this 3rd round with 25:21. She then leads in the 4th set, Sebastian Rösler’s strong block to 26:24 brought the tie-break, in which the last concentration was missing. At the second match point after 109 minutes, Krenkel, who had played a very good game overall, decided the game with a serve error. Nevertheless, there is great satisfaction at TSV. “After the first two sets, there was a high risk of being sent home in an hour,” said Paduretu. “But then we fought our way into the game and were able to take advantage of a few KW lacks of concentration.” To Tanase’s great delight: “I’m proud of the boys. We were a team today.”

TSV Haching Munich: Mikuláss Koch, Schumann, Rösler, Petrusic, Krenkel, Gumenjuk, Chefai (L); Zeller, Paduretu, Rupprecht

At first it looks like a hearty swatter