Bundesliga: Breaking the status quo

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Bundesliga: Breaking the status quo

June 22, 2020 | News | No Comments

German volleyball society is finally witnessing the coveted reshuffling of forces. The 2014-2015 campaign has proven not to be as wearisome as we thought it would be just a few months ago. With the three-time consecutive champions Berlin Recycling Volleys struggling to continue their supremacy, the current leadership of the reborn Friedrichshafen and the thunderbolt appearance of underdogs Lueneburg redound to a fresh wave of emotions.

The analysis of ongoing processes in the Bundesliga cannot start without the scrutiny of the title holders. It is no public secret that a winning side’s life span could rarely endure more than 4-5 years. Berlin have been the team to beat in Germany for the last 4 seasons and it must have been a clear indicator for head coach Mark Lebedew that his relatively untouched but yet experienced squad would suffer at times when trying to demonstrate its usual explosiveness.

Several problems could be pointed out at the end of January. Where Berlin seem to struggle the most is at the attack position. The main scoring machine, the tall Robert Kromm, looks out of shape and has been a shadow of the player he had used to be before last summer. On not one or two occasions it had to be the American captain Scott Touzinsky delivering the points even if his role on the court is quite different. Still, Touzinsky is having a great momentum with some reliable performances while waiting for his teammate Kromm to bounce back from hibernation. Another problem, and quite an obvious one, for Lebedew was the scanty transfer policy in terms of new players on position 4 to provide an alternative to either Touzinsky or Kromm. Francesco De Marchi is still not the solution to the above situation. His contribution to the team’s results has been relatively invisible and it would not be unfair to ask why he was the only recruited receiver during the summer. He is either having difficulties adjusting to the German league, which should not be an excuse for any skillful Italian player, or his better days at Marmi Lanza Verona and Pallovolo Padova are quite far behind him.

The performance of the regular opposite Paul Carroll needs urgent resolution, too. The Australian international is also not the player he was a season or two ago. Aleksandar Spirovski has barely played this year to be relied on more, whereas Christian Duennes is spending another season as a bench joker. Robert Bontje and Erik Shoji have worked their ways in the starting six and fit Berlin’s game style, but they are not enough to close the gap on Friedrichshafen. The Bodensee side also knocked out Berlin RV (a 3-0 quarterfinal win in December) from the German Cup race just to endorse their leadership.

The Max-Schmeling-Halle in the capital is one of the major candidates for a Champions League Final Four organizer. As of right now, this appears to be the only realistic scenario thanks to which Berlin Recycling Volleys might make it to the ultimate stage of the tournament. An early away defeat for the Germans in Budva, Montenegro, was the reason the Polish Asseco Resovia Rzeszow, another possible Final Four organizer (the decision will be made on 29th January), topped the standings of Pool C. However, Berlin’s 3-0 away win in Rzeszow was a display of their best performance so far this season.

VfB Friedrichshafen is the big winner of the whole situation with Berlin RV. Even if Stelian Moculescu‘s side looks weaker overall in comparison to last year’s squad, the team seems to have finally found its lost identity. A German Cup final on 1st March, first position in the league, two important psychological wins against the champions (Berlin got their partial revenge winning 3-2 at home in January) and a more impressive European campaign than in recent years wraps up fruitful last few months for the 2007 Indesit Champions league winners. Blunders are still to be seen, but they showed up mostly at the beginning of the season. Like the 2-3 home defeat to SWD powervolleys Dueren or the same result relived at home against the Austrian Posojilnica Aich/Dob. The return of the playmaker Simon Tischer is undoubtedly one of the catalysts for their reborn presence. The new players who were signed to fill the holes left by the Bulgarian contingent are not that spectacular on first glance, but help Friedrichshafen move further. In approximately three months’ time they will have another chance to fight the defending champions and only then we will see whether their current stand in January has been deserved.

When I said the status quo in German volleyball has been broken, I did not only mean Berlin’s second position in the table or the successful run by Friedrichshafen. In October, I would have expected this paragraph to tell you about the great season of the new signings in Dueren or how well the newly mounted team of Buhl would handle the league’s obstacles. Little did I know that the bunch of players around Vital Heynen‘s national team assistant, Stefan Hubner, will be the sensation in 2014-2015. Lueneburg is a small town near Hamburg in northern Germany, their sports hall looks more like an ordinary school indoor playground, but their volleyball team, the Bundesliga newcomers, put all their opponents, most of which more favoured, to the limits. The series of good results contains an astonishing 3-2 win against Berlin Recycling Volleys on 7th January, preceded by another five-set home win against SWD powervolleys Dueren on 28th December in the German Cup semifinals. On 1st March Stefan Hubner will lead his men to Halle for the final against VfB Friedrichshafen in a match in which SVG Lueneburg have nothing to lose.

Rene Bahlburg (a 26-year-old German outside attacker, 198 cm) and Tijmen Laane (Dutch, same age and position, 206 cm, came from Landstede Zwolle) were two unknown names prior to the season’s commencement, but are now on top of most individual rankings. Hubner also recruited the experienced and explosive opposite Falko Steinke, the Spanish setter Carlos Mora and the US middle blocker Scott Kevorken from UC Irvine in the NCAA. Luneburg are placed on the fourth position in the actual standings at the end of January and there is no doubt the club is enjoying the moment of its life.

The last part of our Bundesliga report will be dedicated to the initial bronze medal contenders. SWD powervolleys Dueren and TV Ingersoll Buhl were thought to be able to challenge the two powerhouses but with 16 games of the regular season already played, this has been fully valid only for Dueren. Much has happened since that horrific 0-3 home defeat to Buhl. Dueren immediately grabbed two points at Friedrichshafen in the next round and have been lonely behind the two league leaders in the standings ever since.

Buhl’s 2014-2015 campaign cannot be compared to their more remarkable previous one. It all started well for last year’s CEV Cup quarterfinalists in the period October – December. 14th December marks the last time the guys of head coach Ruben Wolochin won a Bundesliga game (at home against Coburg). A very tough schedule and shaky days followed as the team totally crumbled against Dueren, Friedrichshafen (twice) and Mitteldeutschland. There is no sign of Lubos Kostolani‘s World League form. The foreign middle blockers Nehemiah Mote and Magloire Mayaula also underperformed in the last few weeks. Mark Plotyczer and Richard Mauler, the two outside attackers, are the only ones carrying the team forward. Buhl could now concentrate on domestic games only and the calendar allows them to win important points before the start of the playoffs.

Pictures: Internet

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