Hartberg's volleyball players

“Have established ourselves as Austria’s number two”

Hartberg has already given its fans plenty to cheer about this year.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Wednesday evening was a premiere for Hartberg: the men's volleyball team played a final match in Innsbruck for the first time. And they cut a fine figure, forcing defending champions and favorites Hypo Tirol into a fifth set. On Sunday (live on ORF SPORT + from 20:15), the "best-of-7" series enters its second round. The Stadtwerke-Hartberg-Halle will be a cauldron.

Compared to Tirol, Hartberg is relatively small fry. "I think they have twice the budget for their professional team that we have for the whole club for all teams," estimates Hartberg manager Markus Gaugl. However, the small fish has been making big bucks recently. "We were third last season, this year we finished runners-up, we were in the Cup final and played in the European Cup. I would say we have established ourselves as number two in Austria."