Match Report Lunds VK B – KFUM Malmö 15/01/2017

Finally, after a couple of holidays, tons of food and snowy storms all over the country the volleyball season in division 2 södra herr started again. And in the first match Lunds VK B had to face a really tough challenge. Malmö is not only second in the table but also won the last match in October pretty clearly. Furthermore, the match took place in the large Idrottshallen, after the A-team’s match, and also a lot of visitors found its way onto the stands. Summing up, tension and expectations were high when the team entered the coliseum.

The first set pretty much showed what could have been expected: Two very good teams, however being also nervous and not completely back in the volleyball routine. Both squads impressed with a very good reception; on Lund’s site especially enabled through libero Ali Babayan. Nevertheless, Lund’s flurry led to many missed serves as well as surprisingly many net touches which eventually decided the set in favour of Malmö with 23-25. A hard loss that put even more pressure on Lund’s shoulders.

What happened then is still hard to realize. With the hints of interims coach Roy Andersson the team showed its very best set of the season and literally declassified Malmö. Constantly avoiding Malmö’s libero in the serves obviously annoyed and demotivated the guests a lot; Lund’s centers Mikael and Philipp steadily drew their counterparts on them so that the outside hitters had a free way to spike. In the end, the scoreboard showed an unbelievable 25-11 win for the locals.

But they did not stop there. Boosted by this success Lund geared up and showed several decent cross plays and also closed the block leaving Malmö no chance to come back into this match. Consequently, set 3 and 4 were won with a 25-18 and a 25-13 win which is definitely an exclamation mark for the competition.

The whole team showed an impressive effort on this day. Ali Babayan and right wing Anton Borna showed why they were missed in the fall season’s matches. Again it was hard to choose the MVP since the team was so strong as a unit. Nevertheless, coach player and left wing Simon Jepsson received this title as his reception, blocking and outstandingly spiking scratched perfection on this day.

This impressive victory definitely makes hunger for more, but still the team knows that refining such a performance needs more hard work. Next we will have two doable away matches against Åstorp and Örkelljunga B but in the next home match on the 11th of February we will meet top of the class Engelholm.

Until then, 3-2-LUND!!!

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Most valuable player: Simon Jepsson