Hartberg in the final

Wings are now needed against “Volleyball Red Bull”

TSV Hartberg serve in the final, but are clearly 0:3 behind.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Hypo Tirol is on the verge of winning the men's volleyball Bundesliga title. However, the favorites had their hands full in their 3:1 win over Hartberg in Innsbruck. The East Styrians now have their backs even more to the wall, but have once again advertised their own cause. On Saturday (20.20) in Hartberg, TSV want to mobilize everything once again.

A wave trough of emotions - that was the third final match from Hartberg's point of view. In the first set, Markus Hirczy's men were far from even coming close to the favorites, 19:25, but then the majority of the fans in the Innsbruck University Hall suddenly thought they were watching the wrong movie: The team from Eastern Styria looked like a new team, defended furiously (Max Thaller saved with his foot!) and played themselves into a frenzy in attack! 25:16! Manager Markus Gaugl was almost lost for words. "Sensational, this half was excellent, everyone here saw what our team is capable of." The battle against Goliath Tirol (Gaugl: "The Red Bull Salzburg of volleyball") was on for "David" Hartberg, who had already traveled to the west the day before the match and prepared in the hall.

The emotional rollercoaster continued in the third set: Hartberg surfed the wave with a broad chest, dominating the run with strong service. However, they suddenly found themselves trailing 1:2 (23:25) because they were not cool-headed enough in the decisive phase. "Hartberg served strongly, they have a great player in Lukas Glatz. I'm not satisfied because we actually had to lose this set against a more hardened team," cursed Tirol manager Hannes Kronthaler - despite leading 2:1 (25:23). 

TSV coach Markus Hirczy(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The ups and downs continued in the fourth set - although Hirczy's team was able to push the top club to the limit. It was only in the final set that they were knocked out, with the second match point for Tirol - 25:22. Hypo can now become champions on Saturday in the Hartberg-Halle (20:20). But Richard Hensel and Co. will want to prevent that. The goal is the first victory in the history of TSV in an AVL final series. "We can be proud of ourselves," said Hensel, "experienced legionnaires play there and young Austrians play for us. The fact that we're here is a dream come true." However, they do not want to congratulate Tirol on the title just yet: "We were much better this time than in the home game. We want to take this momentum with us and really attack again on Saturday."