[Volley] Strassen stumbles again on Komarno

CHALLENGE CUP For the second year in a row, Strassen was eliminated by the Slovaks of Komarno. Beaten in the first leg, the locals also dropped the return match (2-3).

The start of the match is tight, with the two teams sizing each other up. A diagonal attack from Milosevic finds its echo in that of Halanda on the other side of the field (5-5). Neither team has a psychological advantage in the first exchanges, the two teams are neck and neck (11-11).

The battle is tough and it hits hard in all four corners of the field. We had to wait until the middle of the set to see the Slovaks take a three-point lead on the scoreboard with the powerful Levay crushing his ball into Gajin’s feet (13-16). Far from being stunned by the physical and technical challenge of their opponent, the Strassenois in turn moved up a gear to come close with a new smash from Gajin (19-20).

The time out taken by Komarno will be good for the visitors. The Halanda – Mlynarcik duo starts again and puts the Slovaks back on track. And blockouts and sometimes success make the difference. Komarno breaks away at the right time and goes to conclude the first set (21-25).

Among the Luxembourg champion, we know that determination and mentality are not lacking. Massimo Tarantini’s players will prove it and quickly rebuild their confidence. Supported by a packed house, they were there at the start of the second set, in particular thanks to the omnipresence of Gajin on the attack front. As in the first set, we witness a mano a mano between the two teams until 12-12. Camargo even has a break point at 14-13, but his ball fails behind the line.

If the meeting could still be undecided at this point in the debates, it would lose suspense in the minutes that followed. Strassen was less successful in attack and, on the other hand, we displayed more aggressiveness in defense thanks to welcome counterattacks. If the VCS puts up resistance, the powerful attacks of a Mlynarcik hurt a lot. In a one-sided end to the set, Kasperkevic completed the work in the center and qualified his team (15-25).

At the start of the third round, the Slovaks rotated and committed several errors at the net and receiving. This allows Yellow and Black to reverse the trend and move their opponent (15-10, then 20-13). Strassen takes the upper hand and stays in the game to win the match, coming back to 2 sets to 1 (25-18). Komarno started the next set very badly (7-1). Frantisek Ogurcak continuing to trust his bench, his team had difficulty playing the game at the start of the set. Massimo Tarantini also takes the opportunity to blow his executives with the entries of Ribeiro, Topalov and Czapor and the game is balanced again (23-23).

Gajin’s return to the field will send the VCS to the tie-break (31-29). Unfortunately, Massimo Tarantini’s players will not find the resources to pocket a victory for honor. They lost 7-15: “I am disappointed not to have won at least one match. Afterwards, it’s a professional team, it goes quickly, it’s high and we lacked too much precision on serve to hope for anything. We lacked power at station 4,” analyzes the VCS technician.