(by Steve Hopkins)
An exceptional regular season is almost expected with this deep Borussia Dusseldorf team. They once again maneuvered through the Champions League as the top seed – and were ready to excel again in the Final Four. They faced off against Solex Consult TTC Wiener Neustadt, Austria’s best team featuring Frane Kojic, Ivor Ban, and Aleksandr Khanin. At least on paper, Neustadt was terribly outmanned against Timo Boll, Anton Kallberg, and Dang Qiu – and with one exception that results were predictible. Boll topped Kojic easily 3-0 in the opening match. Ivor Ban (Croatia’s World No. 362 left hander) managed to even the match with a 3-0 win over Anton Kallberg. While briefly tied, the momentum ended with the next match as Dang Qiu defeated Khanin 3-0 and then Kallberg redeemed himself by closing out the match with a 3-0 win over Kojic. Dusseldorf moves on to the Final.
The second match was expected to be much tighter, and it was. Neu Ulm’s allstar team of Truls Moregard, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, and Quadri Aruna faced off against defending champion FC Saarbrucken and their team of Darko Jorgic, Patrick Franziska, and Eduard Ionescu. In the opening match, Moregard topped Jorgic 3-1 to give Neu Ulm the early lead. Franziska then upset Dimitrij Ovtcharov to even the score 1-1. Ionescu then edged out Quadri Aruna for another Saarbrucken upset. Moregard was then in position to even the score with his second win – topping Franzisca 3-1. That left the score tied at 2-2 with Dimitrij Ovtcharov for Neu Ulm and Jorgic for Saarbrucken, and the match was dominated by Jorgic. Saarbrucken wins 3-2 and they move on to face Dusseldorf in the Champions League Final for the third year in a row.
The Final will be Monday at 2p in Saarbrucken.
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