The 3-1 win a week ago at the start of the play-off in Eisenerz was the first competitive game for steel volleyball Linz-Steg in more than a month. “The long break was noticed, that wasn’t good of us,” says coach Roland Schwab, who expects an improvement in tomorrow’s second quarter-final game of the Volley Ball Bundesliga “Best of 3” series at home (4 p.m.). But just in time for the start of the play-off, the corona issue seems to be more present in the league than ever, which is not surprising given the infection situation.
The long break between the regular season and the play-offs is also due to the virus, as the league used this buffer to make up for postponed games. “We were just the only club that wasn’t affected,” says Schwab.
Because he noticed that the long break had lost some of the competitive excitement in his team, he organized several friendlies, including a trip to his friend’s club in Schaffhausen (Switzerland). The trip was prevented by Corona because four women from Linz tested positive.
Semi-final series is postponed
When US newcomer Marisa Cerchio got a smash in the face during training on her 23rd birthday – and therefore missed out on the first quarter-finals with a slight concussion, it fitted into the overall picture. “The birthday party after training wasn’t that fun either,” Schwab describes cautiously.
However, the past week of training has lifted the spirits in the team, according to the coach, who can draw on full resources again in the second game – a possible third match would follow on Tuesday in Linz. “This is my sixth season here in Linz, so I want to make it into the semi-finals for the sixth time,” says Schwab, who will concentrate on his new role as Austria’s women’s team manager from the summer. With Steg, however, he is already certain of the next uncertainties: The semi-final series scheduled for next week will be postponed because the quarter-finals between TI Volley and Graz cannot be played for the time being – because of Corona.
Ried is an outsider against Graz
Today’s home game against Graz (6 p.m.) marks the start of the “Best of 3” quarter-final series for the UVC Weberzeile Ried men. “We are in the outsider role,” says middle blocker Felix Breit in the OÖN interview (on nachrichten.at/innviertel). However, there is no need to hide against the defending champions, as they only defeated the Styrians 3-2 three weeks ago. The Rieders managed to do that without top attacker Tomasz Rutecki, who had been injured for two months. With the Pole, the UVC would probably have cut a better figure in the 0:3 on Tuesday against Amstetten. Because of this home defeat, Rieder gave up third place in the top round, which would have meant an easier quarter-final draw with Sokol Wien. It’s bitter, says Breit, “basically we’ve taken another step forward this season.”
Source: Nachrichten
