Dresden volleyball players miss out on cup final

The volleyball players of Dresdner SC have to bury their dream of defending the DVV Cup. Alexander Waibl's team lost 2:3 (29:27, 20:25, 18:25, 25:16, 12:15) to VfB Suhl Lotto Thüringen in the semi-final on Wednesday evening after a hard-fought match and were therefore eliminated from the competition.

The Thuringians will therefore play the final in the SAP Arena Mannheim on February 28, 2026 against Allianz MTV Stuttgart, who had already clearly beaten German champions SSC Palmberg Schwerin on Tuesday. VfB could lift the trophy for the second time in the club's history after 2008.

The two teams played a close match from the outset. The defending champions from Dresden were unable to produce their best performance. The team from the city on the Elbe, who were still in action in the league in Borken on Sunday, wobbled in many phases in reception and were therefore unable to build up the game as desired. There was also a lack of penetration in attack.

Suhl was also very well prepared in its block and court defense. After losing the first set by a wafer-thin margin, the hosts were able to assert themselves clearly in the second and third sets. However, Waibl's charges did not give up and fought back to equalize the set with an improvement and a change in the service game.

But Suhl acted more resolutely in the decisive tie-break and Monika Brancuska, who clearly won the duel between the two best diagonal attackers in the league with 19 points against Dresden's Marta Levinska (13), converted the first match point to win.