Who hasn't experienced this: The ball bounces against the edge of the net, for a fraction of a second it seems open into which half of the playing field it will drip. And then, out of reach of the opponents, he falls into their field. In the masterful game of the Berlin Volleys, their director Johannes Tille seems to have perfected the art of the ace. Not only does it strike impressively; he also seems to be able to hit the edge of the net on purpose.

Michael Reinsch

Correspondent for sports in Berlin.

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In the third final match for the German championship on Saturday evening, he helped his team to the title by once again taking the lead in the first two sets with Assen. "I had said that I don't hit the edge of the net in the game, but only in training," commented the 23-year-old player: "And then I'll make a net roller ace in the second and third games."

This is one of the reasons why the Volleys won 8500:3 (1:25, 18:25, 18:16, 25:27) on Saturday evening in front of 25 spectators in Berlin's Max-Schmeling-Halle and won their 13th German championship with this third victory in the final series against VfB Friedrichshafen. In doing so, they have caught up with the record champions from Lake Constance. After all three games, Tille was named the best man on the field. He has already extended the contract with the player by three years, said Volleys managing director Kaweh Niroomand: "He is a really big asset for us and German volleyball."

The Tille family as a talent pool

At the beginning of the season, Tille came to Berlin from France's second division at the age of 22. Niroomand had been keeping an eye on him for a long time. On the one hand, because Tille took his first steps in first-class volleyball at the VC Olympia in Berlin. On the other hand, because his older brothers Ferdinand and Leonhard have proven in the volleyball Bundesliga and national team that the Tilles from Mühldorf am Inn are a family talent pool. He played football as a child, says Johannes Tille. But when his brother Ferdinand became a volleyball Bundesliga player at the age of 17, he knew: "I want to do that too." He was eight years old at the time.

His breakthrough came fourteen years later, when the regular player of the volleys, the Spaniard Angel Trinidad, suffered a metacarpal fracture during a match in the Volleyball Champions League six months ago. Substitute Tille took over as if he had always played at the highest national and international level. And increased. "The finals give me extra motivation," he said, as if amazed at himself: "I jump higher, I hit better. Everything works better in the finals."

He was "mega-proud of Hannes", praised team captain Ruben Schott: "I knew he had potential, and he is constantly improving." Niroomand goes even further. He sees Tille as a complete player: "A good player, lightning fast in defence, has a good serve, and above all he is incredibly fast in the head. Now he has to get a chance in the national team as well. They have to give themselves a jolt and not hold on to old patterns."

The 23-year-old Tille is the outstanding example of what the French champion coach Cédric Énard has achieved in this last year in Berlin: compensating for the departure of five veterans of the highest international class with young players willing to learn. The 28-year-old Berlin Schott has followed in the footsteps of Russian Sergei Grankin as a leading player, the young giants Anton Brehme and Marek Sotola, 2.06 and 2.08 meters long and only 23 years old, as well as the 2.14 meter long middle blocker Saso Stalekar, who is only three years older, stand for the future of the team.

The way Sotola fended off the set balls of the strengthened Friedrichshafen team in the fourth set with a powerful smash and how Stalekar fended off the set balls of the strengthened Friedrichshafen team in the fourth set with a sovereign block and, instead of allowing a tie-break, scored the points to win sets, games and championships, suggests that the dominance of the Berliners will continue for a while with seven championships in a row. Niroomand was asked whether the German championship with such a superior champion would not be boring. His answer: "Success is never boring."

The ambition and demands of the master maker extend far beyond Berlin. The league's decision, born out of necessity, to have four clubs promoted in order to finally get back to a championship round of twelve, Niroomand associates with the claim: "They have to see this as an opportunity to develop in four or five years as Giesen and Lüneburg did. And the top five also have to take a step forward in terms of quality."

In this context, he criticized TSV Haching Munich, one of the top teams in Germany at the time of sponsor Generali: "This season, Haching was here with only eight or nine people. That's not a good role model." If that's not a good sign: As much as the Berliners work hard for their titles, they are annoyed by the weakness of the competition.