Volleyball
In the first season after returning to the Austrian Volley League (AVL), Hypo Tirol is only one win away from winning the championship. Innsbruck defeated Aich/Dob in the fourth game of the final series on Wednesday evening away in Bleiburg 3-0 (21, 15, 23). In the “Best of seven” series, Tyrol took a 3-1 lead and can already secure the title win in game five on Saturday (8:25 p.m., live on ORF Sport+) in Innsbruck.
Aich/Dob initially delivered a balanced match for Tirol in front of more than 1,100 spectators in the home arena. At 19:17, the southern Carinthians were ahead before the guests took command. Tirol won the first set 25:21 and followed up. Aich/Dob was now completely off the point, top attacker Juri Kruschkow was not a factor, while for the Tyroleans Luan Weber (18 points) scored point after point.
After just 40 minutes, the lead burgers were 0:2 behind. In the third set they reared up again, but Tirol scored the decisive points and blocked the first match ball to win.
“We played incredibly well as a team and did everything right tactically. They tried to come back, but we didn’t allow it,” said Tyrol head coach Stefan Chrtiansky in an ORF interview. Aich/Dob’s manager Martin Micheu was hard pressed and did not spare criticism of his team: “The performance was simply scandalous. That was a complete refusal to work from the middle of the first set. We have nothing more to gain in Tyrol.”