Compared to the average German man, Moritz Karlitzek appears quite tall thanks to his 191 centimeters body length, but not for a volleyball professional.

“Bit small”, says the 25-year-old about himself: “I would like to add a few more centimeters.” But although he does not approach the size of his teammates in the German national volleyball team, who average 1.98 Measuring meters, Karlitzek was able to play himself out to be the number one outside attacker in the course of the European Championship.

And before the EM quarter-finals against Italy in Ostrava this Wednesday, he is set for the starting lineup.

Achim Dreis

Sports editor.

  • Follow I follow

The "little" attacker benefits from his noticeably pronounced jumping ability in his attacks, whereby he emphasizes that he does not do anything special for it.

“It's genetics,” says the man from Lower Franconia about his “spring legs”.

As a child he did athletics, which certainly wasn't a bad basis, nowadays he works very conscientiously in the weight room to keep his leg muscles strong.

"The knees should be fine," says Karlitzek himself - which is one of the reasons why he always plays with long, tight-fitting trousers under his shorts: "I feel better when my knees are warm."

National coach Andrea Giani, who also looked after him as a club coach in Modena for a year, praised Karlitzek's efficiency in attack, as well as his enormous rate of serves. In the round of 16 alone, he put a remarkable six aces at the feet of the Bulgarians. With 53 points scored in the six tournament games so far, Karlitzek even tops the list of the five German attackers. Behind them are Denys Kaliberda (32) and captain Christian Fromm (28), whom Karlitzek had already ousted from the top six against Bulgaria. Only star Georg Grozer on the diagonal position (74) scored more often.

The fact that Karlitzek did not appear quite so strongly at the beginning of the tournament was due to a rather banal problem, because an inflammation of the nail bed restricted him.

National coach Giani solved the matter pragmatically, because in addition to sporting success, he also aimed for all players in the preliminary round in Tallinn to get a share of the game.

Only now, in the knockout round, has he decided on a top line-up.

"It's the same team that played against Bulgaria," he said clearly before the Italy game.

Prestige duel against Italy

His own expectations before the game under special circumstances could hardly be higher: "Raise our game to a new level," is his claim.

At the same time, the tension before the task should not be too great.

"It is important that we can enjoy this game," said 51-year-old Giani, who himself wore the Italian jersey 474 times, became the record national player of the Squadra Azzurra and won the European Championship four times - three times world champion was the universally applicable Middle blockers too.

Before the prestige duel against his home country, Giani now manages a kind of split personality: "There are two moments for me," he says: "The moment when you hear the anthem" is the emotional part.

But as soon as the game starts, there is only “my team playing against another”.

Thanks to his experience in Italy, Karlitzek knows all the players who are on the opposite side of the network, but he doesn't want to worry too much.

According to the German team leader Georg Grozer, what sets him apart is that he “brings an incredible amount of positive energy into the team”. 

Praise that Karlitzek gladly accepts and gives back when he emphasizes how important it is to him to have fun with the boys.

He doesn't even want to see a tough competition with the five candidates for the two positions in the external attack.

Karlitzek says: “It might look like this from the outside, but internally we have a very good atmosphere”.

It always depends on the perspective.