Itas closes the match in France in four sets for the 13th consecutive victory among the various events
Tours Vb–Trentino Itas 1-3 (25-19, 24-26, 12-25, 20-25)
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Trentino Itas scores 13. In the second match of group A of the Cev Champions League the Dolomite sextet conquers the French Tours field in four sets, taking home a very heavy victory. Both in terms of the situation in the group, in which Mendez’s boys are at the top with full points, and because they came against a very difficult team. The current leaders of the French championship, in fact, have put on display a defense of the highest level and a good solidity in the fundamentals of the second line as well as some precious individuals, such as the opposite Mujanovic and the central Dos Santos. But Trentino Itas managed to play a very mature and concrete match: a tight and very balanced match, four partials more often than not with the two sextets arm in arm and the Trentino players achieving their 13th consecutive victory between the various events by gritting their teeth and having a lot, a lot of patience to play again and exploit the situations in the best way. At Itas, then, despite a not very brilliant start, the French opposite Faure improved by scoring 24 personal points with 62% in attack, the best scorer of his team ahead of Michieletto’s 18 points and Ramon’s 13, but the Romanian center back Bela Bartha was also in the foreground, protagonist with 14 personal points (69% in attack, a block, two aces and many ball exchanges brought home).
the race
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In the now traditional starting six of Trentino Volley there is only one novelty, with the Brazilian central Flavio left to rest and so the diagonal of place-3 is made up of Bartha with the German Torwie. The first breakthrough came immediately from Itas (3-6) thanks to Faure and Michieletto, but two errors in attack from the Dolomites allowed Tours to soon return to the score at 12 all. At this stage Trento is still in its Christmas version and pays homage to the French with various gifts, such as Faure’s out attack which is worth 16-13 in favor of the Transalpines and the consequent time-out by coach Mendez. But then Ramon and also the new substitute Gabi Garcia also make mistakes, Bristot comes in but the hosts have now taken a nice lead (22-16). A break too big for Trento to mend, with Dos Santos’ first half sealing the first partial for Tours. In the second set Trentino Itas returns to the field with a completely different mind, more attention to not making mistakes and the first break is served at 3-8. Torwie gets into gear and sets the 10-15 wall, but Tours, despite without any great names, proves to be a very good team by managing to come back (13-15) thanks to the opposite Mujanovic and the central defender Dos Santos. Mendez interrupts the game but it is still the Slovenian opposite of Tours who drags his team to a new draw at 16-16. Michieletto pushes his team (18-20), Dos Santos blocks Faure and the scoreboard reads 23-23: Mendez stops the game again and does well, because upon returning to the field his team are more cynical and concrete in their advantages, finding Ramon’s ace which is worth the final 24-26. In fact, this final result of the set changes the match: from a real battle we move on to a dominant Trento. Tours began to make too many mistakes in the third set while Itas improved a lot during the break phase: ace by Torwie and block by Faure for the 0-4 first and then the 2-10. Sbertoli finds nothing but positive responses now from his teammates in attack (5-15) so the partial becomes a real monologue for the Trentino players who prevail with an eloquent 12-25. Another fast start for Itas in the fourth set but this time Tours manages to get closer at 11-13, forcing Mendez to spend a discretionary time-out early. Both teams try to push the serve (13-16), Tours continues to defend a lot and Mujanovic finds the long diagonal for 15-16. We return to battle (18-20) as in the first two sets, Ramon goes +3 with a very intelligent attack (19-22) and the French bench plays their last discretionary time-out. Ramon again on his return to the field scores the 20-23 before Faure fails to land the reconstruction which gives the first match point that Trento immediately exploits: Ramon blocks Mujanovic and the external success is served. The other match in group A of the Cev Champions League will see the hosts Ach Volley face off against the Turkish side Ziraat Ankara who lead the group arm in arm with the Trentino team on Thursday evening in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
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