“The motivation is huge, we want to get this bronze medal,” says Dominik Kefer, coach of UVC McDonald’s Ried, before today’s home game in the Raiffeisen Volleydome (6 p.m.) against TSV Hartberg.
After the semi-final defeat against the title favorite Hypo Tirol, Rieder now have the chance to achieve the best Bundesliga result in the club’s history in a duel for third place. The series will be played on two won games. The second meeting will take place in Hartberg on Thursday, April 20th. Should it then be 1:1, the decisive third game on April 22nd would also take place in Styria. Incidentally, the Hartbergers were able to win the two games in the regular season.
“Before the season, very few in the league would have expected us to make it this far. Internally, we quickly saw that the squad had a lot of quality. Now we can add third place to our strong season against Hartberg The duel against Hartberg is very important for everyone in the club,” says Kefer, adding: “I hope that we can win the first game in our hall with our home strength and the loud fans. Then we’ll see further.” Rieder will have to do without national player Niklas Etlinger in the final games of the season. The 23-year-old has injured his finger. “Niklas Etlinger played a very strong season. Of course, the loss hurts us a lot, but I have faith in the other players who have already proven their qualities many times this season,” said Kefer. The qualification for the European Cup was fixed by Rieder when they reached the semi-finals. It’s still unclear whether they will play in the CEV Cup, the second highest European competition for club teams, or in the Challenge Cup in autumn.
Image: Streak
Will Kefer stay another year?
Whether successful coach Dominik Kefer will go into a sixth season will be decided after the series against Hartberg. “The full focus is now on these games, after which there will be talks with the club,” says Kefer in the OÖN interview.
- Tickets for today’s game against Hartberg (6 p.m.) are available below uvc-tickets.at or at the box office.
Author
Thomas Streif
Editorial office Innviertel
Thomas Streif
