Cup winner VfB Friedrichshafen has awarded the first championship match ball in the final series of the volleyball Bundesliga.
Coach Mark Lebedew's team lost the third game 0:3 (23:25, 25:27, 17:25) at the favorite defending champion Berlin Recycling Volleys on Saturday and had to play in the best-of-five series of the "eternal finals “ accept the 1:2.
In the fourth game on Wednesday (8 p.m./sportdeutschland.TV and Twitch) in front of their home crowd, the record champions have their second chance to secure their 14th title.
Friedrichshafen also beckons the tenth double in the club's history.
At the beginning of March, VfB won the German Cup for the 17th time.
The two finalists have dominated German men's volleyball for decades.
In 1997, SV Bayer Wuppertal was the last champion who did not come from Berlin or Friedrichshafen.
The past five times have always been the Berlin champions, in the 2019/20 season no title holder was played due to the corona pandemic.
In this year's "Duel of the Giants", as it was called on the Volleys homepage, Friedrichshafen surprisingly gained an advantage in the first two games (3:2, 3:1).
Berlin, which had won the main round, was considered the favorite before the start of the final series.
The BR Volleys got off to a good start in the Max-Schmeling-Halle and, like in the first two duels, won the first set.
This time, however, the "Häfler" did not come back.
The Berliners also won the exciting second round and did not endanger the first victory in the final series in the third section.