LINZ-STEG complete domestic treble with fourth national league title
News
Oberbank Steelvolleys LINZ-STEG have crowned themselves Austrian women’s national champions for a fourth time! The titleholders claimed the fourth round of the championship series with VB NÖ Sokol/Post in Vienna 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-20, 25-16) on Thursday evening to finish the best-of-five series 3-1 in their favour. A year ago, the same two teams had faced each other in the final, and the side from Linz had lifted the trophy on April 27 as well.
Sophie-Marie Maass“We are very happy; it was a hard-fought win. We really deserved the title. Sokol/Post also played great; they are an extremely good team. It was great advertising for Volleyball in Austria.”
Top scorer and MVP of the final match
Like in the previous three matchups, the fourth duel also took place in front of a great backdrop, with 756 fans in attendance, around 200 more than in game two at the same Posthalle. Due to the great interest, additional seats were even made available behind the court. The young Sokol/Post team got off to a good start, leading 8-5, but the Steelvolleys soon took over. Thanks to a strong service performance, they were able to pull away from 13-13 to 19-13 and they comfortably won the first set. The second set was a knife-edge affair. The Steelvolleys were able to lead for a long time but could not make a decisive gap. They edged ahead at 23-21, but Sokol/Post managed to equalise with four points in a row, rewarding themselves for a strong, fighting performance.
It remained a close race until the visitors from Linz, following a 5-0 run, closed the third set. In the fourth, the defending champions claimed an early lead (6-3), but Sokol/Post immediately fought back. The challengers took the lead (7-6), though only briefly, as the pre-favourites used their chances more consistently and moved the score to 14-10. However, the Sokol/Post ladies continued to hold out. After a service run by Jasmin Haslinger, the lead changed again. However, it was the last time the hosts would be in front. The Steelvolleys made ten points in a row in an emotional final phase and thus claimed their fourth championship title in emphatic style.
Lisa-Marie Hager“Our mood could not be better. It was very competitive today. It might not have been our best game, but we stuck together as a team. Our service and side-out were key.”
Libero of Oberbank Steelvolleys LINZ-STEG
Top scorers were Sophie-Marie Maass (20), who was also voted match MVP, and Harlee Kekauoha (17) for LINZ-STEG and Lucia Miksikova (18) and Lia Berger (14) for Sokol/Post. Tatiana Vera was honoured as the best player in the final series by Austrian Volleyball Federation (ÖVV) Sports Director Roland Schwab. ÖVV President Gernot Leitner presented the championship trophy to the Steelvolleys, who complete a perfect season after taking the first edition of the Supercup before the start of the championship and the ÖVV Cup in February. They lost only two of 32 games they contested this season across all domestic competitions. LINZ-STEG now hold four national league titles (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023).
