Champions League, Perugia’s dream vanishes: Zaksa goes to the final

PERUGIA-ZAKSA KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE 1-3 (23-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-27)
In a night to forget, the goal of the men’s Champions League for Perugia vanishes, forced to postpone once again the dream of a city and the company of president Gino Sirci, which by virtue of the substantial investments was considered one of the big favorites this season to win the trophy. Zaksa enters the final, gaining access by winning the first two sets in the PalaBarton bedlam (by virtue of the 3-1 in the first leg at home) and on May 20 in the final in Turin he will face Jastrzebski Wegiel in an all-Polish derby , who yesterday eliminated Turkish side Halkbank Ankara in the other semifinal.

The first two sets were still really exciting. Coach Andrea Anastasi left Solè and Plotnytskyi out at the start, deploying Giannelli as playmaker and Rychlicki as opposite, Russo and Flavio in the centre, Leon and Semeniuk as spikers, with Colaci free. The first set saw the Poles take the lead (3-6) thanks to an immediately devastating Bednorz (7 points with 100% in attack in the fraction), with the Umbrians reaching parity on 11-11, before a new extension from Zaksa on 11-14 and then up to 19-22. In the final it was Plotnytskyi’s jokes (ace of 21-22) that rekindled hopes, then thwarted by Sir’s mistakes, up until Kaczmarek’s decisive block (23-25) on Herrera. In the second set (Perugia from the start with Plotnytskyi for Semeniuk) Sir reacted and moved forward 10-6, before suffering a sensational break from the Poles up to 10-13. Then she tried to get back on track, but instead collapsed heavily until the Polish party (with over 200 fans in tow) unleashed by Kaczmarek’s block (18-25) on Plotnytskyi which gave qualification to the final.

From the third set onwards, the match became exclusively a catwalk for the second lines, given that the two coaches Anastasi and Sammelvuo left the base sextets on the bench and even the cheering stopped. Sir clearly won the third set with a rediscovered Herrera as protagonist (6 points in the fraction) and with a good Sun. Then in the fourth there was more balance and in the end, after Perugia had two set points, it was the Zaksa to prevail (25-27) with the final point accrued with an attack by Plotnytskyi that finished beyond the baseline. Sir will now be able to concentrate on the race for the Scudetto, playing on Monday at 6 pm, again at the PalaBarton, game 5 of the quarter-finals of the playoffs against Milan.

SIR SICOMA MONINI PERUGIA – GROUP AZOTY ZAKSA KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE 1-3 (23-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-27)