Pge Projekt Warsaw – Trentino Itas 2-3 (11-25, 25-17, 25-27, 25-19, 8-15)
The first leg of the Champions League playoffs smiles on the yellow-blue team of Trentino Itas. Mendez’s team won the tie-break in Warsaw thanks to 22 points from Faure and 13 from Lavia, Ramon and Flavio in the center. At the start, coach Mendez confirms the sextet of the Italian Super Cup semi-final lost against Perugia: that is Ramon spiker with Lavia and the German Torwie in the center with Flavio, on the bench Pesaresi takes on the role of spiker with the very young Boschini from the Trentino B series on the scoresheet as second libero.
the match
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The Poles’ first time-out arrives soon, at 4-7 in favor of Trentino Itas thanks to Faure’s ace and blocks from Lavia and Torwie, but pushing from nine meters and working well in defense and reconstruction, the Trentino team continues their escape: 7-12. Ramon pushes serving and attacking (10-18) and the set becomes a catwalk for the Trentino players. In the second set, Warsaw changes skin and reacts (10-5), Ramon again brings Trentino Itas back on track (15-11) but only for a handful of exchanges. This is because Gabi Garcia, as soon as he entered, was blocked (18-12), the Poles made practically no mistakes (21-14) and sealed the tie in the set count. The reaction of the Dolomites comes at the start of the third set (5-10) thanks also to Lavia’s excellent turn at serve (10-15). A margin that Trento, however, sees heavily reduced when the reception begins to falter (18-20), until the tie signed by Tillie and Weber reaches 22-22. In the final rush Trento doesn’t close three set points but they then manage to gain the advantage thanks to a hand-out from Lavia which is worth the final 25-27. At the start of the fourth set Warsaw is still pushing (9-4), Faure’s block brings the Dolomites back to 11-8 before Flavio does not attack out and Faure does not allow himself to be blocked, bringing the score to 14-8 in favor of the hosts. Warsaw holds the lead (16-10), Acquarone in control with Gabi Garcia opposite with Mendez who also removes Ramon at 18-10 to give space to Bristot (21-14). The final result in the fifth set was therefore inevitable, where Trento managed to make the decisive break in the second part.
