Historical Farewell: Hypo Tirol Innsbruck wins treble and leaves professional volleyball, Danail Dimov ends his first season abroad. Two other Bulgarians also won medals.
In an extremely emotional moment for Austrian sports, the volleyball club Hypo Tirol INNSBRUCK won the fourth final match against TSV Raiffeisen HARTBERG 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 26-24) and with an overall score of 4-0 in the powerfusion VL Men final series, became Austrian champions for the 13th time in its history and for the third consecutive season.
With this title, after previously winning the Supercup and the National Cup earlier in the season, Hypo Tirol completed the season with a unique domestic treble. This triumph also marks the end of the club's participation in professional sports, a decision announced by General Manager Hannes Kronthaler two months ago.
Over the years, the "Blues" have left a significant mark on the international stage as well, reaching the Top 6 in the Champions League in the past and participating in the group stage of the most prestigious European tournament this season. They are also three-time winners of the Central European League. The fact that Hypo Tirol finished the current season undefeated at a national level, losing only six sets in all competitions, makes the farewell even more impressive.
The fourth final match, played in the "Stadtwerke Hartberg" hall in front of a good crowd, was one-sided in the first set. In the second set, Hartberg led by six points but failed to hold onto their lead. The third set was the most contested, with a referee's decision for a net violation in favor of Hypo Tirol ending the match and the season.
In his last career match, Hypo Tirol captain Niklas Kronthaler was his team's top scorer with 13 points and was named MVP of the final series. Kyle Hobus added 12 points. For Hartberg, Lukas Glatz scored the most points (14), thereby surpassing the 500-point mark for the season and becoming the league's top scorer, while Richard Hensel contributed 8 points. Match statistics show Hypo Tirol's superiority in attack (38 vs 35) and block (12 vs 4), while Hartberg had more aces (5 vs 3).
Unfortunately, with the end of the season in Austria, the first season abroad for the young Bulgarian opposite hitter also concludes,Danail Dimov. The 22-year-old player, who came from Cherno More BASC, played for Hypo Tirol and will now have to seek a new engagement with another club.
An interesting fact is that this match was a "Bulgarian derby", as besides Dimov, TSV Raiffeisen Hartberg featured two of his compatriots from "Stoichev-Kaziyski" Volleyball Academy - Veselin Brendjorfer and Alexander Shopov. They won silver medals.
