SVG LÜNEBURG claim sensational tiebreak victory over MODENA

SVG LÜNEBURG of Germany were responsible for a real sensation on Wednesday night, as they claimed their home match with Italy’s standout Valsa Group MODENA 3-2 (25-19, 26-28, 28-26, 18-25, 17-15) in the first round of the men’s CEV Volleyball Cup 2023 Playoffs. With this result, the German outsiders stand more of a chance of progressing to the quarterfinals ahead of the re-match in Italy.

The hosts made it clear from the very start of the match that they were not going to make things easy for the pre-favourite and star-studded team from Italy. MODENA, on the other hand, did not start the match with their top six. The home side served extremely well, and it did so from start to end of the match. According to their head coach Stefan Hübner, this was especially important to secure their sensational 3-2 victory: “That was a huge performance. With good reception and good serving, we were able to always keep the match close.”

Colton Cowell and Lukas Maase were especially effective in the first set, where SVG LÜNEBURG set the pace from start to end (12-9; 15-13; 20-15). Valsa Group MODENA did not find its way into the match and eventually conceded the set 25-19.

In the second set, the visitors looked much more focused, but with a large crowd of 2,950 spectators behind them, the LüneHünen were not intimidated. Jordan Ewert found better into the game and more often the gaps in the Italian block (3-3; 6-5). Again, it seemed as if the hosts could pull away (10-7), but superstars Bruno Rezende and Earvin Ngapeth managed to turn things around (10-12). The home favourites started making more mistakes, whereas MODENA looked in control (13-15; 17-19). Adis Lagumdzija could not be controlled either. In the crunch time, the LüneHünen were once again wide awake, but despite defending four set points, MODENA levelled the match (26-28).

The guests now seemed to get the upper hand and quickly pulled away to 4-7 in the third set. It went back and forth, the first simple mistakes in the team of head coach Andrea Giani crept in and the lead waved back and forth. However, neither team was able to pull away. Jordan Ewert on the home side pulled the strings more and more and with Joseph Worsley’s powerful serves, the pendulum started to swing back to them. “We always stayed in the rhythm, playing point for point. We knew that if we kept it close, we would get a chance to win,” Stefan Hübner was full of praise for his team. When it came to crunch time, all the players on the court put in an incredibly spectacular performance. Balls that were thought to be dead were saved in series and turned into terrific points. The audience went wild when Ewert scored to make it 24-21, but with Giovanni Sanguinetti on serve, MODENA came back, and it took two more set points to make it 2-1 for SVG LÜNEBURG (28-26).

Only a few minutes and the score stood at 10-15 for MODENA in the fourth set. MODENA vigorously exploited the nerve-wracking set finale in the SVG bones and did not let the hosts back into the game. With some successful blocking action, the LüneHünen eventually managed to put up more of a fight, but it was obvious that MODENA wanted to go to the tiebreak. The story of the set was told comparatively quickly, because the LüneHünen found no means to respond. MODENA always had an answer (15-17; 17-24) and managed to equalise with their second set point (18-25).

The noise and the tension inside the arena rose to another level. Maase, Ewert, and Jordan Schnitzer helped the home side secure an 8-4 advantage in the tiebreak. It almost looked like a sweep (10-7), but MODENA fought back (10-10) just as you would expect from such a top team. With spectacular saves, Earvin Ngapeth brought SVG to despair, but that was not enough for the victory. Even though MODENA had two match points, the hosts remained composed and when Tommaso Rinaldi hit the ball out of bounds, the players and almost 3,000 spectators could erupt in joy (17-15). The LüneHünen had beaten MODENA 3-2 and Stefan Hübner had an extra praise for the fans: “This is unbelievable. That we have such a great home arena with such an incredible atmosphere. The fans are fantastic.”