Generali UNTERHACHING
The second half of the previous season gave us a positive answer to that question, but still one could contemplate on the different behaviour of Paduretu‘s boys. True, Haching lost some names, Kaliberda, Gunthor and Cedeno left holes on the Generali wall, but the signing of Raymaekers and Shumov somewhat filled the problems in the middle. The Belgian and the Finn are impressive, they have shown solid skills since October. Jan Willem Snippe needed some time to accommodate to his new team and is now quite reliable as a starter. Surprisingly to me, Robert Hupka did not get the role of Kaliberda. The Slovakian national team player is still benched this season while it comes down to Alex Shafranovich to accompany Snippe in the starting list.
An important 3-2 Champions League victory in Ljubljana against the local ACH guarantees Haching a second-place spot behind the Italian champion Lube Banca Marche Macerata in the current standings, but in the next weeks the German vice-champion will have the chance to secure that position. The confidence boost for the Bavarians has been supported by the convincing win over Berlin Recycling Volleys for the Pokal and, of course, Sunday’s big derby success at home against Friedrichshafen. Ventsislav Simeonov led VfB to a 2-1 margin before head coach Mihai Paduretu changed setters. Branislav Skladany, who had recently suffered lungs infection, helped Unterhaching come back to the game and win in five sets (25-23, 21-25, 22-25, 25-20, 15-12). With the addition of Patrick Steuerwald to the squad Paduretu has more options when it comes to changing game rhythm. Last year Skladany enjoyed full play time in important Haching games, this year the competition between the playmakers can only make the 2011-2012 runner-ups stronger when it comes to decisive moments.
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