The Amstetten, until recently led by Andrej Urnaut, had no real chance to win yesterday’s match against Calcit Volley, although they lost the last set on a tiebreaker. They were also left empty-handed against Waldviertel, which they beat in both of their two matches in the Austrian national championship. Interestingly, Amstetten is still second in the domestic championship, while Waldviertel is only sixth.
In an even first set, Waldviertel took a four-point lead (21:17) only at the end with an ace by Joel Regehr, and although Amstetten came within a point lag (20:21), there was no turnaround. A second set point by Jan-Philipp Krabel won the set for Waldviertel, who led 8:0 and 10:1 in the second, a big enough advantage to ensure a peaceful continuation. In the end, they only conceded ten points to their opponents.
But after a smooth second set, Waldviertel played much worse in the third. Amstetten took an 6:11 lead with a successful attack by Sebastian Riegler, but the tie was broken on the 16th point. Amstetten’s players were more focused in the final set, but they could not do anything more. The fourth set was again dominated by Waldviertel, who scored 11 aces to Amstetten’s three, but was much better in all other elements of the game. This was especially true for the block, with which they scored 14 points, or eight more than the opponent.
It should also be mentioned that Calcit Volley is in second place ahead of its last regular season match and will remain in second place, regardless of the outcome of the Waldviertel match.
Today, Mladost Zagreb beat Merkur Maribor 3:2, which now has four defeats, the same number as SK Zadruga Aich/Dob, Waldviertel, Mursa Osijek and Mladost Zagreb, which has one game less. The first is unbeaten ACH Volley, which means that Calcit Volley will not play them in the semi-finals.
To say goodbye to the tournament in Kamnik, Calcit Volley will play Waldviertel on Thursday at 20:00.
