SVG LÜNEBURG set sights on #CEVCupM semis after imperious home win
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Germany’s SVG LÜNEBURG has made a step forward towards the semis of the men’s CEV Cup. After moving down from the elite CEV Champions League, where they finished third in their pool, to the CEV Cup, the Germans recorded an impressive 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-16) victory in the first round of the quarterfinals with AONS Milon NEA Smyrni ATHENS. Therefore, the dream of the semi-finals is well alive, but the quarter-final second leg in a week’s time will still be no walk in the park.
Despite some recent health problems in the Lüne-Hünen camp and the ligament injury to their starting middle blocker Matt Knigge, who will be out for around four weeks, the home side put on a great display in front of 2,024 spectators in the LKH Arena and delivered an all-round successful performance, finishing the match in just 73 minutes. The opponents from the Greater Athens metropolitan area were kept away from the net with powerful serves and had their share of struggles in defence. Only ten errors - with seven aces - is an excellent rate for the home side.
On the SVG side, setter Maxwell Elgert distributed the balls well, with Erik Röhrs, Xander Ketrzynski and Jesse Elser repeatedly making their mark. From the middle of the first set (12-12), the home side slowly gained the upper hand (16-15, 20-17), which Röhrs ended with two aces.
The second half was similar - except that Röhrs became even more dominant and scored a whopping 10 points. The national player, who was the top scorer in the end (18), was also voted ‘Man of the Match’. Elser (12) and Ketrzynski (11) also scored in double figures. The home side also slowly pulled away in this set before crunch time (19-17), with Röhrs also scoring the last points.
Section three then went even more clearly. A three-point lead was established at 8-5, which soon grew to 10-5. And now the visitors showed little of their previously vaunted fighting spirit. The lead grew steadily and Ketrzynski was now hungry for points (seven in this set alone). He also converted the match ball. At the other end, only the youngster Alexandros Nanopoulos had something to counter (with six points in the final set).
Gage Worsley, libero of SVG LÜNEBURG: “You know, first I want to say this: thanks for everybody coming out, what a great crowd. Everyone knows we are a man down. Matt Knigge out but everyone stepped up big time and played team ball. We have been up and down this season but now it seems we are finally on a good track. But we have learned our lesson from Champions League and made sure that “Okay this is the first game but it’s also the second game that is the most important match.” At their place it can be much harder. They are experienced, good ball players. Great job from the team tonight but the second match will be a lot harder. And I think everybody will give it their all the next time.”
Blake Leeson, middle blocker of the home side: “I think it was great. I think we came out strong. Passed well – served well, what for the most part won us the game. We did what we needed to do. It put us in a good position going to Greece. Hopefully we can finish it there and move on to the next round.”
Erik Röhrs“Yes, it was fun. I would have liked us to fill the hall today because (from what I have heard) it was the biggest game in the club’s history. SVG LÜNEBURG has never been in the quarterfinals of a European competition. Last year against Modena was certainly a different opponent than Athens, but just from the framework I would have liked the arena to be full today. The atmosphere was still great - it was great fun. We played very consistently and can be satisfied. But as I said, nothing has been won yet.”
Outside hitter of SVG LÜNEBURG and MVP