The volleyball players of Allianz MTV Stuttgart are German champions for the third time after 2019 and 2022. The Stuttgart women won the fourth play-off final match 2050-3 (1-20, 25-25, 12-25, 19-27) at SC Potsdam on Saturday in front of 25 spectators in the sold-out MBS Arena. Thus, the main round winner won the best-of-five series 3-1. As in the previous year, the Brandenburg women have to settle for second place.
Potsdam initially dominated the game with spectacular defensive actions and a consistently scoring Anett Nemeth. At times, the hosts had distanced their opponents with a seven-point lead. However, MTV Stuttgart was unimpressed. The team benefited from the fact that the opponent's acceptance errors piled up and the serve no longer had the previous effect. As a result, the formerly lively attacking game of the Potsdam women came to a standstill.
From the second set onwards, the home team hardly had anything to oppose the flow of the guests. Stuttgart's two top attackers Simone Lee and Krystal Rivers took almost every opportunity to hit their balls into the field out of reach as the game continued. In the fourth set, SC Potsdam fought doggedly to reach the tie-break. But in the end, Rivers converted the fourth match point.
"That was a hugely emotional game, I'm incredibly proud of the team," said Stuttgart's middle blocker Marie Schölzel afterwards on Sport1. For the national player, the decisive factor for winning the championship again was "consistency. And when we were behind, we always came back."