Match report First quarterfinal won by a hair
3-1 after 34-32 in the fourth set: Düren win the first playoff quarterfinal against Helios Grizzlys Giesen in a sold-out arena.
SWD powervolleys Düren take the first step towards the semifinal in the Volleyball Bundesliga playoffs. In front of a sold-out Arena Kreis Düren, they beat Helios Grizzlys Giesen 3-1 (25-19, 20-25, 25-23, 34-32) in the first quarterfinal. The fourth set in particular was a drama that Düren narrowly decided in their favor.
Robin Baghdady battles through
With a win at the Grizzlys next Saturday, Düren can secure their place in the semifinal. If Giesen win, the two teams meet again for a deciding match in Düren the following Wednesday.
Man of the match was Robin Baghdady. In the fourth set he blocked for 32-31 and shortly afterwards sealed the win with an ace. Remarkably, he played from the third set on with back problems and had to battle through, because injuries currently leave Düren with only two regular outside hitters for two positions on court. Head coach Christophe Achten praised how important it was that Baghdady fought his way through.
Achten joked that luckily his team managed to win the fourth set twice. At 27-26 for Düren, a Giesen attack landed out and the referees ended the match amid Düren cheers. But the Grizzlys protested, and rightly so: Düren had committed a rotation error. The team was briefly stunned, Giesen won the next point and had set point to force a tiebreak. It never came – thanks to the two most important points, scored by Baghdady.
“We are not there yet”
Achten was proud that his team still won after the difficult situation in the fourth set, but stressed that they had not reached their goal yet. He was referring to the semifinal and to the way his team played. Compared to recent weeks, Düren had improved and played consistently, especially in attack.
Only in the first set were SWD powervolleys better at serving and blocking; after that, the Grizzlys had the edge in those elements. Düren still won because Ryan Poole delivered important counter-attacks in the decisive moments of the third set, and Baghdady scored at the end of the fourth set with exactly the Grizzlys’ strengths: blocking and serving.
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