The guests got off to a better start and surprisingly won the first round with 25:15. Led by an outstanding Brooke Botkin, who was the best player of the evening with 24 points, the defending champions, whose blocker Sophie Maass was ill, turned the game around. “The longer a game lasts, the more we can use our conditional advantages,” says manager Andreas Andretsch. A win next Saturday in Innsbruck would already help his team to reach the final.
The UVC McDonald’s Ried men had the expected difficult situation, going down 3-0 at Favorit Hypo Tirol in the first semi-final game. Only in the first set (23:25) could the Innviertler stand up to Innsbruck. “We defended superbly and read their pass perfectly,” Tyrol captain Daniel Koncal reveals about the recipe for success. The second game in the “Best of 5” series follows on Wednesday in Ried (7 p.m.).
