MODENA ends LÜNEBURG’s fairy tale in #CEVCupM

Last stop Modena, northern Italy: The European journey of Germany’s SVG LÜNEBURG is over, but the LüneHünen have left deep marks. After the sensational 3-2 home victory in the first leg against the top team Valsa Group MODENA, captain Joe Worsley & Co. made the four-time Champions Cup winners sweat in the second leg too but they eventually had to acknowledge the strength of the opponent in the second leg of the CEV Cup Playoff round. The score was 3-1 (27-25, 23-25, 25-17, 25-21) in favour of MODENA after 115 exciting minutes of in front of 2,444 spectators, including a large delegation from Lüneburg.

MODENA again fully challenged
For a long time, the team of head coach Stefan Hübner, who again brought the well-rehearsed starting six to the court, even nurtured the hope of being able to add another sensation to the one of two weeks ago. His men took to the field without fear of the big task, claiming the lead for the first time at 7-6 and then holding onto the advantage for a long time (13-10, 15-12, 21-18). At 24-22, the visitors from Germany had two set points - but MODENA turned the tables in overtime to 27-25.

Lukas Maase was well in the game in the opening set with six points, Jordan Ewert and Colton Cowell (four each) were effective as well. As in the first leg, the diagonal player Adis Lagumdzija played a major role in the opponent’s game. This time, MODENA’s regular six also played from the start, including veteran middle blocker Dragan Stankovic and Olympic champion Earvin Ngapeth.

SVG did not let itself discouraged by the loss of the first set and set the pace of the game almost from start to end in the second, leading by as many as five points at 22-17. This is where MODENA caught up again (21-22) but at 23-24, Jordan Schnitzer closed the set with his fifth point. Maase (6) and Ewert (5) continued to play well. For MODENA, Ngapeth had a zero in the statistics, Lagumdzija also slackened (5), and in his place came in 18-year-old Lorenzo Sala, a third mega-talent in addition to regulars Tommaso Rinaldi and Giovanni Sanguinetti.

Another great talent next to all the stars
Sala, who did not play in the first leg, caused SVG a lot of problems right from the start, scoring seven points in the third set at a rate of 78% and was still the best scorer for the Italians at the end of the match with 13 points. The only slightly older Sanguinetti (12) and Rinaldi (10) played extremely well too. Because Bruno not only put them in the limelight, but also shone (five aces), the third set clearly went to MODENA, although SVG twice successfully started a race to catch up and came back to within two points only each time after clearly trailing. However, a 6-0 run at the beginning of crunch time gave MODENA the 2-1 set lead.

The fourth set was more even again. MODENA turned a 4-1 lead of SVG to 8-7, until 14-14 the match was tied, not least thanks to six points of Cowell, then the favourite, for whom Ngapeth scored best (5), pulled away to 19-14. Once again, SVG fought back and came within two points (22-20), but Ngapeth then converted the first match point. MODENA will now face ACH Volley LJUBLJANA of Slovenia, a group third-place finisher from the Champions League, in the quarterfinals.

“When we kept the ball in play, we were very good, defended super and forced them to play many long rallies, which we also won most of the time,” coach Stefan Hübner was once again very satisfied with his charges. MODENA had advantages primarily in the service compartment, “there Bruno and Ngapeth caused us problems with great pressure.” So, except for the defeat, a successful evening - and overall, the CEV Cup was an electrifying competition for weeks, or, as Hübner summed up: “The CEV Cup was a great trip, which helps the club and the players to grow further.”