First against fourth, 13 successes in a row against eight: The numbers before Herrsching’s first division volleyball team’s guest appearance at champions Berlin had promised a really top game. Thomas Ranner was also hoping for the Christmas effect. It will be exciting, “because teams tolerate breaks very differently, I hope for a stuttering start in Berlin,” said the WWK Volleys Herrsching coach. At the same time, he tried to keep the pressure as low as possible and emphasized that “all teams are priced in losing in Berlin.” The 0:3 (17:25, 21:25, 18:25) still read soberingly and showed quite mercilessly how much separates Herrsching from the league leaders on an average day.
The Herrschingers started off highly motivated, but perhaps got in their own way on Sunday. In any case, there was no sign of the lightness that Ranner had conjured up. The players clearly had a lot planned, which initially resulted in their own mistakes. Five of the first ten serves sailed out or into the net, and at the end of the game three aces faced 17 service errors. The attempts by outside attackers Daniel Gruvaeus and Jannes Wiesner rarely found their target or bounced straight back into their own field at the same pace. The Upper Bavarians didn’t give up, but they never got into the flow that had recently carried them from success to success. The Berliners got in the way in the block significantly more often than Herrsching is used to from his opponents this season. Going straight through wasn’t enough this time, which is why Ranner called for more cleverness in the attack early on.
Coach Ranner made it clear during the timeout: “I don’t care what happens over there. I’m interested in what we do.”
However, Herrsching started the second set even more despondently and fell behind 1:7. Ranner made it clear during the timeout: “I don’t care what happens over there. I’m interested in what we do.” Whether it was the 37-year-old’s announcement or the fact that the players themselves remembered how this focus on their own game had recently distinguished them: Herrsching presented himself for the rest of the passage as a competitor on an equal footing. Attacker Wiesner was an example of how the guests gave up their excessive respect. In the first set he only managed two points, in the second he served two aces, sank three attacks and two direct blocks. When the score was 20:20, Herrsching was the only time the Berlin team came close to losing a set.
In the third round, Ranner made a substitution. Herrsching seemed more relaxed, acted more cheekily, but was always so clearly behind that a controlled performance was ultimately enough for the Berliners to remain unbeaten in the 14th game of the season. “We have to be ready if the Berliners offer us something,” Ranner said. But the Berliners simply offered little. “And if we don’t put any pressure behind our serves, it will be difficult,” summed up Herrsching’s diagonal attacker Filip John, who was one of the best in the team. Herrsching remains fourth in the table and will host Karlsruhe on January 4th.
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