Asseco Resovia Rzeszow gives SVG Lüneburg no chance

In the first final match of the CEV Volleyball Cup, Asseco Resovia Rzeszow clearly showed SVG Lüneburg their limits and won 3:0 in the LKH Arena.

SVG coach Stefan Hübner's young team looked nervous and disorganized from the very first rallies. Despite a few long rallies, the hosts soon found themselves 2:5 down. While Rzeszow almost always found a gap in the Lüneburg block, the "LüneHünen" managed very little in front of the 3,200 spectators.

They annoyed Erik Röhrs and Xander Ketrzynski with confident blocking, who were unable to find solutions to put the visitors under pressure either diagonally or through the middle. On the other side, the picture was the opposite: Jakub Bucki, Torey Defalco and Yacine Louati repeatedly asserted themselves against a block of three (4:7; 6:12). There was a brief glimmer of hope when Jesse Elgert made the first successful block and Ketrzynski found gaps diagonally (9:13).

However, the visitors, who were outstanding in all positions, went one better and Bartłomiej Mordyl made it clear through the middle (10:17). SVG coach Hübner commented respectfully after the game: "Rzeszow was clearly superior to us in all elements of the game, what quality!" From then on, the visitors took a more leisurely approach against Lüneburg, who were still unsure of themselves. Defalco closed out the set 16:25.

The picture changed little in the second set. SVG home-grown talent Theo Mohwinkel came in for Jesse Elser, but was initially unable to make an impact. Defalco's enormously powerful serves put SVG under pressure straight away and it was only thanks to the high error rate of the visitors on serve that Lüneburg stayed in contention (2:2; 3:7; 5:8). In the middle of the set, Lüneburg's hopes began to rise.

An ace from Elgert, a block from Joscha Kunstmann and the hall shook as the team came back from 6:11 to 11:14. However, it was only to be a flash in the pan, as Asseco Resovia Rzeszow has plenty of world and Olympic champions for a reason. With strong reception, secure field defense and outstanding wit, they confidently showed who was in charge in the LKH Arena (11:18). In particular Karol Klos (9 points) and Jakub Bucki (10 points), who had an 88% attacking percentage at the final whistle, caused the "LüneHünen" plenty of problems in this phase.

SVG now had Yann Böhme on court permanently, who was good for a ray of hope here and there, but even he was not able to make a decisive impact (14:21). The visitors controlled the game almost at will, particularly in the middle, which was reflected in SVG's statistics with just one successful block.  The set then went unchallenged to the visitors with 17:25.

Above all, the 3,200 spectators in the sold-out LKH Arena did not let this get them down. They continued to whip their team forward and Lüneburg's confidence returned (3:1; 7:3). Böhme and Mohwinkel scored diagonally, Kunstmann was successful with a block and SVG suddenly seemed to have something going for it.

Erik Röhrs, who was unfortunate time and again, successfully attacked the visitors' block and Matthew Knigge finished off several attacks successfully through the middle (10:8). However, SVG paid for the higher risk with more service errors and, on the other side, there was still an unexcited opponent. Top scorer Defalco (16 points) and Frenchman Louati put the team back in front (13:13; 15:17; 18:21). In the end, SVG Lüneburg had no chance against Asseco Resovia Rzeszow today, as the visitors scored their second match point to make it 21:25 and go into the second leg next week as the heavy favorites.

SVG coach Stefan Hübner: "Compliments to our opponents. We wanted to keep the sets close. It was very difficult in sets one and two, but better in the third. It was a great match for our young team, who can feel the fire and want to get to this level. All in all, it was very sobering today, but maybe we can do a bit better in the second leg." Bernd Schlesinger, SVG's sporting director: "The result certainly hurts a little, but it's great that we were able to experience it in front of such a great crowd. After ten years in the Bundesliga, we're playing a European final against a team that is outstanding in all positions. Our goal is to develop in this direction in the coming years."