Turnarounds, comebacks and emotion as Olympiacos, Lüneburg and Halkbank Ankara qualify for #CLVolleyM quarter-finals

There were twists and turns, a lot of drama and some big shocks, as the play-offs of this season’s CEV Champions League Men concluded on Thursday night, when Olympiacos Piraeus delivered another 3:1 win against Saint-Nazaire VB Atlantique, to secure their maiden quarter-finals berth since 2002.

But the biggest shock was undoubtedly the elimination of Berlin Recycling Volleys, the German champions, which were aiming to secure their fifth consecutive appearance in the quarter-finals of the CEV Champions League, at the hands of domestic rivals SVG Lüneburg, which previously won one of the last 23 mutual matches.

In the first leg, Lüneburg took a 3:2 win, and needed to win at least two sets to push the match into a golden set, and this is exactly what they did. Berlin Recycling Volleys started strong, with a 25:13 win in the first set, and went on to lead 16:12 in the second one. However, Lüneburg provided an exciting comeback, to take both the third and the fourth sets, 25:23, ensuring that Berlin need to go the whole way.

44 points for Jack Hanes were enough for Berlin to deliver a swift comeback, 27:25 and 17:15 in the decider, until Lüneburg were the better side in the golden set, played to decide who is the team which will progress to the next phase.

Xander Ketrzynski had 30 points, Theo Mohwinkel added 16 points, while Oskar Espeland had 14 points, combining for 60 points for Lüneburg, which dominated the golden set, leading 5:4, 10:8 and 12:9, until they took it, 15:13, to progress to the quarter-finals for the first time in history. 

"Maybe we are underdogs, maybe not better than Berlin - but we have a lot of ambition, a lot of will to do something good. And that was just enough today to turn things around against the superstars from Berlin. There are so many people who put so much energy into getting this club to where it is today: Top 8 in Europe! This club deserves it, the people behind it absolutely deserve it, to get this victory. Great game! I'm so happy that we have now rewarded the club," said  Lüneburg’s middle blocker, Simon Torwie.

The German side, which had never won on Berlin’s court, will now face Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie in the quarter-finals.

Another fantastic turnaround could be witnessed in the play-offs tie between Allianz Milano and Halkbank Ankara, where Milano promptly erased a 1:3 loss in the first leg, to push the match into a golden set with a 3:1 win on their home court.

The Italian side went close to secure a 3:0 win, after dominating the first set, 25:16, and taking the second one, 26:24, after Ankara relied on Marek Sotola, who had 32 points in the match.

Despite leading 21:20 in the second, third and fourth set, Ankara missed out on the chance to finish the discussion about the qualification, when Milano powered back in the fourth set to take a 28:26 win, backed by an excellent Ferre Reggers, who had 22 points, pushing the match into the golden set.

However, Ankara won 10 of the last 13 matches which were decided in the fifth set and their experience and cold blood were decisive in the golden set too. The Italian side led 5:2 and 10:8, but Ankara managed a fantastic turnaround, with Sotola being helped by Yoandy Leal and Dick Kooy, both with 10 points, to clinch the golden set 15:13 and progress to the next phase.

The Turkish side will face Polish side PGE Projekt Warsaw, which had the best record in the 4th round, conceding only two sets in the six matches played.

In the third play-offs tie, Olympiacos Piraeus had a big lead, 3:1, after the first leg against Saint-Nazaire VB Atlantique, but they only had won a single of the three matches played in the fourth round.

Nevertheless, the Greek side, which had to overcome three qualification rounds to reach the 4th round, will now have two more matches on their schedule, taking their total to 16 this season, after another 3:1 win against the French champions.

Aleksandar Atanasijevic was once again the top scorer for Olympiacos, with 17 points, closely followed by Alen Pajenk, who had 15 points, as the Greek side took a 25:19 win in the first set.

The second went Saint-Nazaire’s way, 25:18, but then Olympiacos never relinquished the lead, winning the next two sets, 25:23 and 25:21, after posting an otherworldly 78% attacking efficiency in the fourth set.

"We have achieved something that has been wished for a long time. We have reached the top eight teams of the CEV Champions League and we will certainly find a very strong opponent in front of us, the Polish team Jastrzębski. We will continue to believe and hope. We will go to exhaust all possibilities in both the first and second matches and we will be happy. The feeling of playing at the top level in Europe is unique,” said Olympiacos’ Rafail Koumentakis.

Jastrzębski Węgiel, the runners-up of the previous two seasons in the CEV Champions League Men, will be Olympiacos’ opponent in the quarter-finals, as the Greek side made it this far in the European premium competition for the first time in 23 years and for the third time in history.