Titles still at stake after Europe exit

Unterhaching, February 11 - After getting knocked out of the CEV Champions League against the Polish team Jastrzebski Wegiel on Tuesday, Generali Haching have to stay focused on winning the German Cup next month and the Bundesliga title.  Their next league match will be a tough one.  Haching will travel to the capital city on Sunday to face the current leader of the German league, SCC Berlin.

The disappointment still lingers within the club from the midweek loss.   TSV's libero player Ferdinand Tille explains the mood, "after the defeat we were very, very disappointed.  We tried to remove all the bad thoughts about that loss as we started the first practice. We tried to focus on our next match." 

They will have to get over the loss and back to playing well quickly.  The next weeks are going to be hard for the Bavarians. After Berlin, they will have to face their rivals VfB Friedrichshafen twice: on March 6th in the final of German Cup and one week later in Friedrichshafen for a Bundesliga match.  Unterhaching must learn from the mistakes of last game.  They absolutely have to play more focused and create more pressure with the serve.

The match in Berlin will be played in an atmosphere similar to one Haching found in Poland.  Close to 4000 spectators are expected to cheer on the hosts.  Unterhaching's assistant coach Berti Golf harped on the important of the match.  "If we don't win, we can forget the first place in the table."

The top three teams of Bundesliga have just lost one game each in the league:  Haching lost to SCC Berlin, SCC lost to Friedrichshafen, who in return lost to the Bavarians.  Despite losing that league match in November, Unterhaching came back a month later and defeated Berlin in a playoff match for the German Cup 3-0.

To win on Sunday, Haching will have to keep an eye on Savador Hidalgo Oliva.  The Cuban had a magical night to lead his team to a 3-2 victory at the Sport Arena.  Berlin also have German player Ricardo Galandi who has an effective service game and he barely makes mistakes. Another player to watch is Jaroslav Skach from the Czech Republic.  Unterhaching have to improve their service reception and play at their usual level in the offense.  First serve on Sunday is at 16:00.

Generali Haching return home on Wednesday to host TV Bühl at the Generali Sport Arena, match starts at 19:30.