Graz, Austria. UVC Holding GRAZ claimed on Wednesday night their first, historic title in the Austrian men’s national league as they secured a 3-1 (20-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-18) victory over SK Zadruga AICH/DOB in the fourth round of the championship series, which therefore ended 3-1 in their favour.
UVC Holding GRAZ celebrate their historic triumph in the Austrian national league
The match did not start in the best way for UVC Holding GRAZ though, as AICH/DOB set the pace from start to end of the first set. However, GRAZ showed amazing fighting spirit in the second set, where they claimed a five-point advantage before AICH/DOB fought their way back. Arvydas Miseikis of AICH/DOB suffered an ankle injury in a collision with Lorenz Koraimann and had to leave the court – with match over for him. UVC Holding eventually took the second set before AICH/DOB edged ahead 7-4 and 12-9 in the third. UVC Holding responded by scoring five times in a row before seizing the set at 25-22 by cashing the third of their six set points. AICH/DOB put up a fight in the fourth set but there was no way stopping GRAZ from securing their first national league triumph in history.
Lorenz Koraimann and Johannes Kratz top scored for the winners with 25 and 16 points, respectively. Sergej Drobnic and Konrad Formela registered 13 apiece for AICH/DOB.
“As a coach, this is my first title, and it is always the best experience for a coach. As a player I already had to defend a title many times and that is always a lot harder.”
Robert Koch
Head coach of UVC Holding GRAZ
Lorenz Koraimann, top scorer of UVC Holding GRAZ: “We are over the moon. I still cannot believe it. You may have seen that we looked a bit shaky in the first set. AICH/DOB also struggled with bad luck and injuries, but we are super happy today.”
Clemens Unterberger, team captain of UVC Holding GRAZ: “The team has been together in this constellation for three years, and this made the difference. AICH/DOB have individual players, whilst we have a team. Our fight today was amazing. I cannot believe it yet. That was my last game in the Bundesliga today. I could only dream of such an end to my career. We had practically no injuries this year, for which we owe a big thank you to the staff!”
Johannes Kratz, player of UVC Holding GRAZ: “It went really well, not only for me, but also for the whole team. Defence in Volleyball represents the will and the ambition to bring the balls back into play. I have already won the national cup three times with this team, but you cannot compare that to the championship, which lasts for a whole season and this is historic for the club.”
Frederick Laure, Sports Director of UVC Holding GRAZ: “I cannot find any words to describe my feelings! It was always a goal, but it was so far to get there. Congratulations to the team. The player showed their heart and will since the semi-finals. Against Waldviertel, we were behind in the series, but we hit back and now we are champions. We will try to keep the team, we have good youth work in Graz and we will continue on our way. We will do everything we can to ensure we can participate in the Champions League next season.”
Manuel Steiner, libero of SK Zadruga AICH/DOB: “We are extremely disappointed; we gave everything again, but it did not work. If you get every ball back in four games, you can only congratulate GRAZ. Still, today we presented ourselves as a team, and that was missing recently.”
“We are of course immensely disappointed with the final result. GRAZ truly deserve the championship title. They were superior to us. We fought incredibly, but balls came back and that broke us. There will be changes, starting with a new coach.”
Martin Micheu
Sports Director of SK Zadruga AICH/DOB
