VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN takes first points against French rookies of MONTPELLIER HSC VB
Recap
On Thursday the teams of VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN and MONTPELLIER HSC VB met in the #CLVolleyM match, for the first time this season. VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN is the only team in Pool A who had lifted the trophy from Europe’s top competition and on the other hand, the French team is the debutant in Round 4 of this competition. In the end, it was a German team with a 3:2 win (20-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-11).
The French team made a mark in the first set since they didn’t let go of their advantage and were holding onto it until the very end of the set. With two aces they’ve shown their fightness which they’ve transferred into the second set as well.
Montpellier took an early lead in the next set and was in the advantage until the middle of the set when VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN equalized everything but it still wasn’t enough to take the win since the guys from France had three kill blocks. VfB Friedrichshafen now needed two sets to find their own strength.
The third set started off as a cat-and-mouse game where both teams were pretty sufficient in the attacks and the defense. In the middle of the set that changed and VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN took the matter into their own hands, and with three aces and two kill blocks and they managed to take this set (25:22).
The German team “explode” in the fourth set and statistics are real proof of that: six kill blocks, three aces, and a 25:23 score in the end. Now, everything was tied and the fifth one was supposed to decide the winner of the match. The Germans walked into this set better, with a lot of confidence, and secured the first win this season!
The middle blocker of VfB Friedrichshafen, Aleksandar Nedeljković, took home the MVP trophy with six blocks, six winning spikes, and one ace. Great respect for the assistant coach of the German team, Liam Sketcher. He twice interrupted the rally for a foot fault challenge and was absolutely right.
Theo Faure from the French team scored 22 points in five sets – the most of all players. For the home team, Michal Superlak with 16 points was the leader spiker.
Mark LEBEDEW"It was a team effort today and I’m really proud of the team. It took some to find our rhythm but in the end we did pretty well. Montpellier started better and we stayed calm. Respect to my team."
Head coach of VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN
Olivier LECAT"It was a really tight game at a high level. We started really good in the first two sets, the third set Friedrichshafen came back stronger and we weren’t able to continue playing our game but still the sets were tight. It’s the first time in our club’s history that we play Champions League and I am okay with only taking home one point, we’ve proofed that we are able to keep up with big European clubs like Friedrichshafen."
Head coach of MONTPELLIER HSC