Volleyball Champions League, Perugia in the semifinals, Civitanova eliminated

Champions League night for two Italian teams. Perugia begins, conquering the semifinal after trembling. Closes Civitanova, who beats Ankara but loses the golden set and is eliminated.

Perugia-Berlin 3-2 (24-26, 25-21, 22-25, 25-17, 15-13)

—

The party breaks out with the conquest of the second set (enough to go through after the 1-3 success in the first leg) and in the end the victory comes at the tie-break. But Sir’s performance was very fluctuating, also because the Germans showed a solidity and compactness that hadn’t emerged in the first leg. Coach Andrea Anastasi initially left out Leon and Flavio, deploying Giannelli as playmaker and opposite Rychlicki, Russo and Solè in the centre, Semeniuk and Plotnytskyi as spikers, with Colaci free. In the first set, Berlin started with great determination, always managing to keep Perugia at a distance and thanks to the Schott-Sotola tandem they extended up to 17-20. From the bench Anastasi ran for cover, putting Leon in (at 19-21), who with an ace brought the score level (22-22) and then in the final it was the points from Schott and Sotola that gave the win (24-26) to the Germans. In the second set (Leon confirmed from the beginning in place of Semeniuk) Sir still struggled, failing to detach Berlin, who remained in the match until moving ahead 17-18. The great protagonist was then Leon (7 points in the fraction with an ace and two blocks), putting Perugia ahead until 21-18, to then close the set (25-21) with a block on Sotola. In the third set there was constantly great balance, with Sir keeping the Germans afloat with her mistakes, until she found herself down on 19-21. After Umbria’s comeback on 22-22, Berlin extended again up to 21-23 and went on to win on 22-25 with an attack by Sotola (best scorer of the match with 23 points). In the fourth set it was again Berlin who took the lead at the start (6-8), but then finally Perugia ramped up and found the strength of the serve (two aces from Plotnytskyi and one from Leo), going to close (25-17) the hamlet with a wall of Leon on Sotola. With the conquest of the second set, the tie-break became almost useless and Anastasi put in Semeniuk, Mengozzi, Ropret and Herrera from the beginning, leaving only Russo and Plotnytskyi (Mvp and best scorer of his team) on the field with 18 points , like Leon) of the basic sextet. To close the match (15-13) was an attack by Herrera. Now Perugia will be back on the field on Saturday 18th at 6pm, again at the PalaBarton, for match-1 of the quarter-finals of the championship playoffs against Allianz Milano. (Antonello Menconi)

CIVITANOVA–ANKARA 3-1 (31-29, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20), golden set 12-15

—

Endless emotions in the Champions League quarter-final for a Lube who, driven by a stoic Zaytsev, a lucid de Cecco in directing, with a Balaso who collected everything and a generous team performance cornered Ankara who he fought on his par, coming back down 2-0 and coming close to equalizing the scores in the fourth set. It didn’t succeed due to the unshakable will of a Civitanova who re-emerged when it seemed to be on the ropes, forcing the Turks led by an indomitable Abdel Aziz to the play-off set. For the occasion Chicco Blengini relies on the best sextet, with the recovered Yant paired with Bottolo as spikers, the De Cecco-Zaytsev diagonal, central Anzani and Chinenyeze and free Balaso. Full Ankara, with particular attention to the dangerous Jaeschke and Abdel Aziz. Exciting and infinite first set, with Civitanova extending its lead by even four points several times but Ankara has the ability with the serve, and with the mistakes of the Marches, to always come back for a sprint finish: where there is a match in the match, with Lube closing in the sixth set ball with Chinenyeze after the Turks had had an opportunity to close the set. We continue in the sign of balance also at the start of the second set, with Blengini who sends an opaque Bottolo taken over by Nikolov to the bench. Partial determined by the shifts in the service of Nikolov and Zaytsev who dig the decisive breaks before the block of Yant and the ace of Garcia bring Civitanova up 2-0. Third who sees the balance unlocked thanks to Ma’a who signs the break of the Turkish lead, with Ankara more incisive who leaves on +4. The run-up Lube cancels two set balls to the Turks but then closes Abdel Aziz who thus shortens the score. Heart attack fourth set: Ankara flies up 7-12 but Civitanova replies with an 8-0 counter break that is worth overtaking. And then a masterful stroke by De Cecco delivers the Golden set to Lube. Where Halkbank better approaches the service and the block which is worth 2-4: Civitanova has the strength to straighten the set relying again above all on Zaytsev for a very balanced partial decided in the final by Yant’s mistake and Abdel Aziz’s attack which leads Ankara to the quarterfinals. (Mauro Giustozzi)