The regular season has ended: Perugia first, Verona second, Civitanova sixth, Piacenza fifth, Milan seventh and Monza eighth. Modena has to settle for fourth place
Trento was not surprised. In the sprint the Italian champions defended their minimal advantage and ended the regular season in third place. The final day of the Super League established the final verdicts in view of the playoffs and the order of the magnificent eight who will compete for the tricolor from Sunday 8 March has not changed compared to the ranking of a round ago: Perugia, Verona, Trento, Modena, Piacenza, Civitanova, Milan and Monza. On the eve of five teams were already sure of their positions on the starting grid of the playoffs – Perugia first, Verona second, Civitanova sixth, Milan seventh and Monza eighth – but for third, fourth and fifth position everything was up for discussion with Trento and Modena tied at 44 points and Piacenza in the wake at 43. Well the midweek round confirmed the starting positions.
THE PLAYOFF FRAMEWORK
- Sir Susa Scai Perugia (1) – Vero Volley Monza (8)
- Valsa Group Modena (4) – Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza (5)
- Rana Verona (2) – Allianz Milan (7)
- Itas Trentino (3) – Cucine Lube Civitanova (6)
French
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The Italian champions Itas, after the last three seasons finishing in first (2025 and 2024) and second place (2023), are relegated to the second row. A position defended yesterday by Modena’s attack. Still without Michieletto – lumbar stress fracture -, Mendez’s team dominated Cisterna in the 56th chapter of the matches between the two clubs (45-11 for Trento). The Lazio club hasn’t won in Trentino for 12 years: it was 13 April 2014 (1-3). The performance of striker Theo Faure dragged Itas to success. Against his former team the Frenchman finished with 15 and 76% efficiency in attack. “We finished the season in the best possible way – analyzes Faure -. An important 3-0 for our confidence in view of the next matches. It is always special to play against my former team and I am happy with my performance”. Trento will defend the title starting from third position but, between the two days in Trieste and the start of the championship race, they will be involved in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 in Warsaw on March 4th. A pleasant distraction.
fever
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Modena therefore has to settle for fourth place (for the set quotient). The home success against Verona “only” served to defend the position from the attacking Piacenza. At the PalaPanini there was great anticipation to see the Venetian team at work but, as communicated by the club yesterday afternoon, “due to a bacterium (streptococcus) which has been affecting several members for several days, including members of the staff and the first team group, some players have not been called up and will not take part in the match”. So in the Verona court there were no Brazilian opposite Darlan, Malian spiker Keita, libero Staforini and Australian center back with an Italian passport Zingel. In addition to these unavailable players, coach Soli gave director Christenson a rest. Modena thus took advantage of it even if the Rana stood up to the yellow team’s enthusiasm. Among the protagonists of the success was the central defender Pardo Mati, protagonist with 4 blocks and 2 winning serves. “We fought throughout the championship, gaining some satisfaction with successes against the big teams in the championship – explained Pardo Mati – even if some missteps in the first part of the season cost us a lot. We deserved this fourth place and now with confidence we can also gain some satisfaction in the playoffs. From a personal point of view it was an important season because throughout the championship I had to sweat my place out.”
disappointment
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The disappointment of this regular season finale is Verona. The Venetians had all the cards on the table to reach first place at the end of the regular season but with three defeats in the last four days of the championship – defeats against Civitanova, Perugia and Modena – they compromised their historic possibility. The Super Cup will take place over the weekend, then from next week there will be room for the quarter-final playoff series. In view of the two days in Trieste, Soli’s team has three days to recover as many players as possible in view of Saturday’s match against Civitanova, one of the two teams (the other is Modena) that beat the Venetians on both occasions in the regular season.
the results
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Today’s results and matches
- Cucine Lube Civitanova – Vero Volley Monza 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-21)
- Itas Trentino – Cisterna Volley 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-15)
- Sir Susa Scai Perugia – Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-14)
- THE RANKING Perugia 58, Verona 48, Trento 47, Modena 47, Piacenza 44, Civitanova 40, Milan 32, Monza 25, Padua 19, Cisterna 15, Cuneo 15, Grottazzolina 6.
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