Women’s Volleyball Bundesliga: MTV Stuttgart German Volleyball Champion for the third time

“We’re runners-up again,” the hall announcer called out to the SC Potsdam fans as they threatened to sink into quiet self-pity. This should be an encouragement for the Brandenburg volleyball players and their supporters and at the same time it was much more: a reminder that Potsdam has finally established itself at the top of German volleyball, even if the fight for the first German championship was held for the second time in series on MTV Stuttgart had failed.

At the latest when sports director Toni Rieger picked up the microphone, it was clear: This Saturday evening should not be a day of mourning. Yes, Stuttgart had won both the fourth final and the entire series of finals, each 3-1, and now celebrated with the championship trophy in Potsdam’s MBS Arena. But Rieger recalled that the 2022/23 season was also the most successful in the club’s history.

Potsdam achieved three successes in their first participation in the Champions League, including one with the defending champions from Istanbul. Nationally, the club lost only four games in the Bundesliga main round, reached the cup final and won the Supercup at the start of the season. It was the first club title ever for Potsdam and should remain the only one despite further opportunities. But that’s no reason to worry, said captain Laura Emonts: “We won three medals this season. Not even Stuttgart managed that.«

Potsdam had also gone through phases in which not much came together. “When we played every three days in February, we ran out of breath,” Toni Rieger recalled losing the cup final against Schwerin. The Mecklenburg women almost became a stumbling block again in the playoff semi-finals of the volleyball Bundesliga. “But then we managed to surprise and finally turn things around,” says Rieger. »In March, many had already seen us on the ground, but we all proved otherwise. Our team can be celebrated today.«

For half an hour on Saturday evening it even looked as if Potsdam could postpone the championship party of the big favorite Stuttgart again and equalize to 2: 2. The hosts were able to break away early, mainly because Laura Emonts woke up again. The first two duels went narrowly to the respective hosts before MTV Stuttgart Potsdam played against the wall 3-0 in game three. The German national player Emonts in particular had weakened in the assumption and then got stuck on the block again and again. But now she could hardly be stopped: With 25:20 the first round of the fourth final went to Potsdam.

From the second set, however, the women from Stuttgart turned up the heat, and again it was their best server, Maria Segura Pallerés, who slowed down Potsdam’s build-up game with a series of flutter balls and thus brought her own block into play. Everything went well for the defending champions and they didn’t give Potsdam the slightest chance with 25:12.

Defensively, the Potsdam team couldn’t find a way to counter the Spaniard’s serves and the powerful attacks by the best-paid Bundesliga player, Krystal Rivers. After the guests had also won round three with 25:19, they were only one set away from the next championship title. But the hosts didn’t give up, caught up twice in set four from a three-point deficit and fended off three match points. But the fourth was one too many. Again it was Rivers who put the ball on the ground. “I thought to myself: It’s time to put an end to this. And then I have that, too,” said the American with a wink to “nd”.

It was a special title for Stuttgart as coach Tore Aleksandersen, weakened by cancer, could no longer stand on the sidelines. “It took us a long time to adjust and find a kind of new team identity,” says Rivers. “In the end we made it though. I’m very proud of that.«

Potsdam cannot afford exceptional athletes like the 28-year-old American. Nevertheless, the Brandenburg women managed to make the favorites sweat again, also because Rieger had managed to keep the core of the team together last summer. Will that be easier now that the club has proven they can always fight for titles? “No, it’s going to be even more difficult now,” predicts Rieger. “We presented ourselves so well internationally that our players aroused the interest of many clubs,” said the sporting director, looking ahead to complicated weeks of negotiations.

But even if great talents like the 19-year-old young national player Anastasia Cekulaev or the Hungarian Anett Németh, who was voted the most valuable player in the league, should leave the club, Rieger has proven time and again that he can put together a good team. And with the prospect of many medals, you might even be able to persuade one or the other new talent to slip on the SC Potsdam jersey for a few years.