Lube’s internal thud against the Brianza team. Itas and the Umbrians start the playoff series with a success. Piacenza lost at home against super Kaziyski
The men’s Super League playoff matches begin from the quarter-finals. It is played as a best of five games. Game 2 scheduled for Sunday with reversed fields. Trentino starts well, with 3-0 over Modena.
Trento-Modena 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-18)
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Game 1 of the Super League quarter-finals is a smile on Itas Trentino, with the winners of the regular season beating Modena in three sets. The first set was decisive, won by the Dolomites by the skin of their teeth against a willing Valsa Group. But having won the one at the wire the game changes face, Trento takes the reins and now on Sunday at PalaPanini they will have the opportunity to seal qualification for the semi-finals. At the start the two sextets are the ones expected the day before, with Soli leaving the latest arrival, setter Garcia, on the bench, confirming Acquarone in the control room. It’s immediately 4-0 for Trento with Giuliani stopping the game at 6-1 with a time-out, a good move because when they return to the field Modena gets close to 11-10. Davyskiba puts the Emilians ahead at 12-14, but Lavia and the home centre-backs put Itas back ahead at 19-17. Modena time out but upon returning to the field it is Rychlicki who takes the lead scoring the 22-18, the Valsa Group tries a comeback but Michieletto’s block on Juantorena is worth the final 25-23. In the second set Trento started better again, reaching 9-2 thanks to Lavia and Rychlicki. The entire Trentino high ball trio takes the reins of the game (13-6), Boninfante comes in for Bruno and Davyskiba tries to drag the Emilians along but Itas gives nothing away (15-8). When Kozamernik places the attack to make it 22-14, the credits are ready to roll. This brings us to the third set, in which Modena experiences an initial reaction (6-7) but when the attack and the home serve come back to push (10-6) the hosts remain firmly ahead. At 17-12 request for a discretionary time out for Giuliani, Acquarone blocks Rinaldi for 19-13 and Michieletto’s turn to serve paves the way for the hosts. Which in the final, despite Davyskiba’s attempts, gives nothing away (23-16) and goes to close. (Nicola Baldo)
civitanova-monza 1-3 (26-28, 25-20, 11-25, 20-25)
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Tonfo Lube, Monza paradise. In game 1 of the playoff quarter-finals, Eccheli’s team dominates the match in the Marche region, canceling out the disadvantage of the field factor and imparting a severe lesson to a struggling Civitanova, with many players subdued, Lagumdzija in particular, who suffered the blows by Loeppky (mvp and top scorer with 28 points) and Swarc (18) well directed by Kreling. A team symphony in Monza, in the presence of a very foul Lube (29 errors) who did everything they could wrong. Only in the second set did Vero Volley find itself in difficulty, repelling Lube’s desperate attempt at a comeback in the fourth. Civitanova is still without Zaytsev, whose recovery however is approaching, and the sextet Blengini relies on is made up of De Cecco-Lagumdzija, Nikolov-Yant spikers, Diamantini-Anzani central defenders, Balaso libero while Monza lines up with the diagonal Kreling -Szwarc, Loeppky-Maar hammers, Di Martino-Galassi in the center, Gaggini libero. The Lombards got off to a flying start with Kreling and Loepky’s tours of duty. Civitanova struggles to get going, in attack only Yant shows himself on the ball. Partial that Vero Volley commands also due to too many errors in attack by the Marche players (16-20). Monza, however, suffered a slight decline in the final, and Lagumdzija and Yant took advantage of it and signed the lead (23-23) for an unexpected ending: the guests closed the advantage to the fourth ball of the set with an attack by Takahashi. The second one opens with a more determined Lube who grows in her level of service and block play. Bottolo’s turn from nine meters (two aces, author of 5 points and 100%) split the set with Civitanova putting its head firmly ahead (18-14). And he resists the comeback attempt of a less lucid opponent, putting the match back on a draw. In the third Lube remains with Bottolo on the pitch preferred to Nikolov and Chinenyeze in the center. Marchigiani too fouled and imprecise, Monza thus extended its lead to 8-14: Lagumdzija, in difficulty from the start of the match, was taken over by Nikolov, but Lube was completely in confusion and made error after error (10) and for Monza it was it’s all too easy to win a third set without history. Inertia of the match in the Vero Volley half of the court which also dominates the fourth set, taking home a very clear and perhaps unexpected success for how it materialized in the presence of an impalpable opponent. (Mauro Giustozzi)
Perugia-Verona 3-1 (23-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-19)
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Perugia began the quarter-finals of the Scudetto playoffs with a comeback victory in front of 3,000 PalaBarton, beating Verona in four sets, who however always remained in the match. After the uncertain start, the superiority of the Umbrians was nevertheless evident, especially in terms of continuity. Sir was fielded by coach Angelo Lorenzetti with Giannelli as director, Ben Tara as opposite, Flavio and Russo as central defenders, Semeniuk and Leon as spikers and Colaci as libero. On the other side, coach Radostin Stoytchev presented Spirito as director, Esmaeilnezhad as opposite, Grozdanov and Zingel as central players, Dzavoronok and Mozic as spikers, with D’Amico as libero. The Scala team took advantage of some distractions from Perugia at the start and extended their lead to 4-8 thanks to a devastating Esmaeilnezhad (9 points in the half with 67% in attack), making Lorenzetti run for cover, who (with a score of 3- 7) called Leon back to the bench, to give space to Plotnytskyi. Sir thus took the lead again (11-10) and only in the final Verona put their head back, and then gave themselves the success thanks again to Esmaeilnezhad (Verona’s best scorer in the match with 23 points), who with two aces in a row he closed the games (23-25). The start in Verona fueled Perugia’s fears, after in the direct championship clash last February 11th at PalaBarton the Venetians prevailed in the tie break. In the second set, however, there was the undisputed dominance of Perugia (with Plotnytskyi confirmed in place of Leon), who took off from the start, frustrating any attempt at a comeback by Stoytchev’s men, who then gave away the final point (25-16) with Sani’s serving foul. In the wake of the general growth of the team, Lorenzetti’s sextet started off on the right foot also in the third set (8-6) and, despite not managing to create a gap in the score, they always remained ahead thanks above all to a lucid Giannelli and to an always effective Semeniuk (7 points in the half and best scorer of the match with 24 points), who also grounded the final attack (25-21). In the fourth set (Verona with Keita replacing a dull Mozic) Sir once again took the lead, progressively increasing the margin, also because Verona was incapable of reacting and only played a leading role in flashes, getting closer to 18-15, before the final collapse. It was then Ben Tara’s vertical attack (MVP with 18 points) that closed the match (25-19), amidst the enthusiasm of the public. Game 2 of this championship playoff quarter-final match is scheduled for Sunday in Verona at 8.30 pm, while game 3 will return to play in Perugia on 17 March. (Antonello Menconi)
Piacenza-Milan 2-3 (25-20, 21-25, 25-19, 22-25, 10-15)
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It is the fourth meeting of the season between Piacenza and Milan, the red and whites are ahead having won the two matches in the championship, but the most important challenge went to the Lombards, capable of wresting the Italian Cup rosette from the chest of Gas Sales Bluenergy by eliminating the team of Anastasi in the quarter-finals. Race-1 at the Palabanca allows Piazza’s team to conquer the Emilian ground again, giving themselves a very precious advantage in the series after a beautiful double comeback. Milan immediately makes it clear why they are one of the best blocking teams, Piacenza responds with the service of the least expected: Caneschi finds the ace to overtake the red and white 9-8 after a good start for the visitors. A few more balanced exchanges then the hosts find the break with an impregnable attack (over 60 percent) and an inspired Brizard. The director himself lands the 22-18 which gives the red and whites a calm finish which arrived thanks to the seal of Simon who scored two aces for the 25-20. The start of the second set was all about Allianz who, despite some service problems, exploited blocking and attack to take an 11-8 lead. Piacenza has the merit of not letting its opponents escape and when Loser commits an invasion on a replayed attack the red and whites are ahead again 13-12. But Milan can never be left for dead: Piazza’s team gains the 18-15 with the serve, is reached again and then thanks to Kaziyski, well supported by Ishikawa, finds a lethal partial of 5-0 which accompanies the guests to the tie. Anastasi introduces Leal again, replaced by Recine at the end of the second set, while Piazza proposes the same formation making the usual double change around the halfway point. As soon as they passed 10, the red and whites change pace and lead 15-10 with Romanò’s series of serves which makes Piacenza’s life easy, then Leal takes care of putting the ball on the ground until the final 25-19. As in the second set, it was Kaziyski’s series of serves that split the fraction, taking Milan from 9-8 to 15-8 and giving a decisive turning point to the set before it really got to the heart of things. To tell the truth, Piacenza manages to come back, comes within a point of distance but Piazza’s team withstands the attack and takes the match to a tie break thanks to a super Vitelli. In the fifth set the guests got off to a flying start, did everything well and with Reggers’ ace they were already ahead 7-4. Piacenza gives away a couple of balls and everything is easy for the guests until the final 15-10. (Matteo Marchetti)
Gazzetta dello Sport
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