Until 6: 8 in the third round, the world of USC Münster was fine on Thursday evening. The bottom of the table had taken a sentence from Bundesliga top Allianz MTV Stuttgart and made a courageous appearance in the Scharrena. But then came an action that tarnished the evaluation of this game, which could have been an encouragement.
Helo Lacerda, who had been playing well until then, injured her left lower leg in a harmless-looking defense. The Brazilian diagonal attacker immediately put her hands in front of her face and her teammates carried her from the field. A long failure seems inevitable, a bitter moment for the USC, who scored 1: 3 (25:20, 16:25, 16:25, 16:25). The Bundesliga debut of 18-year-old Erika Klidau, who did her job more than properly, took a back seat due to the Helo shock. “The thing with Helo hit us. You shouldn’t underestimate what it makes emotionally with a team, ”said USC coach Ralph Bergmann, who had seen“ a good performance ”up until then.
Birthday girl Sarah van Aalen
The big favorite here, the blatant underdog there – the roles were clearly assigned, and the first eight rallies seemed to set the course. Stuttgart presented (2: 0, 5: 3), was also in a different starting line-up – coach Tore Aleksandersen had at the beginning without a regular trio around player Athina Papafotiou – initially setting the tone. But what the MTV was offering did not seem sovereign. The USC also noticed: With heart, passion and courage, he countered it, keeping his error rate at a manageable level. And lo and behold, in the middle of the sentence, Munster took command. With a net scooter ace, birthday girl Sarah van Aalen (21) got the 11:10, the 11:11 from Dora Grozer, Nele Barber and Helo Lacerda, who was strong in this phase, with three points to 15:11.
Tore Aleksandersen annoyed
Stuttgart’s coach was not happy and described the serve as a “disaster” during a break. And it should get even worse for the MTV: From 17:13 the Swabians gave the USC four points due to errors in the specification. Munster said thank you and accepted. Linda Bock, who acted again in attack and voted the most valuable player, made the 25:20 perfect.
A respectable success that attracted the front runner. Aleksandersen ordered Papafotiou, Michaela Mlejnkova and Juliet Lohuis onto the field, his main lineup should fix it. And yes, she set it up too. Fewer mistakes, more power and precision put Münster under increasing pressure, the phase from 10:11 to 10:16, in which the guests found it difficult to get through, was significant. On the other hand, it was Mlejnkova who caused danger, and Krystal Rivers delivered reliably and as usual aggressively for the MTV, who balanced after sentences.
Fateful rally
For the time being things were straightened out, but Munster’s resistance did not let up. Bock blocked Rivers once more and brought the Independents 3-2 in front, until the 6-8 and that fateful rally the USC was close to Stuttgart. “We did a lot of things really well,” said Bergmann. It was understandable that his protégés were impressed by Helo’s injury. The Westphalians quickly fell far behind (8:18), the rest of the process was a matter of form for the reigning champions since 2019.
Munster did not give up, kept putting everything in and tried everything. The USC shook off the unfortunate start in section four (1: 4, 5: 8) and equalized again after Nele Barber’s block against Maria Seguera. It was the last equalization, and Münster was subsequently lost in the assumption that it was difficult to make constructive attacks. At 8:14 the decision was made, the air was out – and a few moments later the game was over. “We did well in sets two, three and four, but Stuttgart was too strong there,” said Bergmann, who from a sporting point of view could have got on the bus with a good feeling. But Helo’s serious injury overshadowed the USC appearance for a long time.
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