Volleyball, Superlega playoffs: the championship final will be between Trento and Civitanova

Trento-Piacenza 3-1 (18-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-19)
It is the ninth Scudetto final in its history for Itas Trentino (so far four wins and the same number of losses), which thus also guarantees participation in the next Champions League. Playing for third place and, with it, for the last pass for the most prestigious European Cup, will be Gas Sales Piacenza. This is the final response of the decisive play-off game 5 between the Dolomites and Emilia which saw Itas Trentino win in four sets. After a first set entirely from Piacenza, the omelette turns upside down, Trento takes the chair thanks to experience drivers such as Marko Podrascanin and Matey Kaziyski, managing to take control of the game. Thanks also to a break phase that grew a lot during the race, it was impossible for Piacenza to be able to place the third consecutive victory in the series. At the start, the two sextets are the same as in the other four races of the series (5-5). The first break comes with Simon’s block on Lisinac and the subsequent out attack by the Serbian centre-back (6-8), a margin that Leal extends to +3 with a water heater pulled from place-4 (9-12) which forces Lorenzetti to stop the game. Piacenza in the break phase is immediately very effective and for Trento it is difficult to put the ball on the ground continuously (11-15), Brizard immediately starts looking often for his central defenders (Simon makes 13-17) and when the Lucarelli-Simon duo presses Kaziyski wall then Lorenzetti stops everything again (13-18). But the block to one by Romanò on Michieletto (13-19) makes it clear how in this first set Piacenza is bridling Trento’s game with serve, block-defense and reconstruction, which relies on Kaziyski’s serve (his ace of 15-19). Gas Sales dominates (ace by Lucarelli without forcing for 15-22), but on the backs of all the many Piacenza fans who climbed to the foot of the Dolomites a shiver runs on 17-23. That is, when Leal lands on Lavia’s foot when he blocks, his right ankle turns and the Brazilian spiker remains on the ground in pain holding his ankle. Just a big scare, because after a bit of ice spray Leal gets back to playing and Gas Sales Bluenergy closes with an eloquent 18-25 with a final lob from Caneschi. Of Trento’s 18 points, 10 come from mistakes by Piacenza, a symptom of a difficult first set for Lorenzetti’s boys. In the second set, Trento tries to start with a different attitude (5-5), first of all with Kaziyski who takes on many responsibilities and heavy balls on his shoulders (7-7), Michieletto in attack and Podrascanin’s block on Lucarelli underwrite the first break for Trento (13-10) with Botti stopping everything. Ace by Brizard for 14-13, with the Emilian reception lowering his standards compared to the first set (also thanks to a better serve from Trentino) Simon lands the first point on 16-15 just from this set. Lisinac blocks Leal for 18-15 in favor of the Dolomites, a completely different team compared to the first set: Kaziyski’s ace for 21-17 with Michieletto who, one exchange later, blocks Leal. Ace by Caneschi for 22-19 and immediate time-out by Lorenzetti, who thus shocks Itas to manage the last points (ace by Michieletto for 24-19). The set count returned to a draw, the third set immediately opens with all the trappings of a balanced and tight sporting battle: 8-8 with a block by Simon on Kaziyski. Lisinac blocks Simon and it’s 12-9 in favor of the hosts, with Botti stopping the game immediately, but now it’s the Trentino block-defense that harnesses the Emilian attack. Two practically consecutive points from Podrascanin and it’s 17-12 in favor of Trento, Botti is also playing the last discretionary time-out but by now it’s the whole break phase of Trento – including the joke – which puts enormous pressure on Piacenza. Michieletto’s ace for 19-12, inside Recine for Leal and Gironi for Romanò, but now the inertia of this partial is all in favor of the hosts: 22-13 with two points in a row from Lavia. And it was the same former spiker from Ravenna and Modena who closed the game with a pipe, sending Itas ahead 2-1. Podrascanin’s batting round baptizes the fourth set (3-0), Piacenza one step at a time brings everything back to a level at 6-6 with Caneschi’s ace. On the score of 8-6 yellow due to protests in Romanò, with two consecutive points from Podrascanin (10-7) the Emilian bench stops everything but Gas Sales is too foul (attack out by Leal for 12-8) in this phase of the match. The Emilians live on flames, like the Romanò branded one in the joke that brings the guests back to bite the hosts’ heels: 13-12 and Lorenzetti time-out. Lucarelli’s lob and Simon’s block on Michieletto allow Piacenza to stay in line (17-16), but it’s still from nine meters that Trento finds the draw: 20-16 with Michieletto’s ace on Lucarelli. It is the decisive draw, the one that allows Itas to only have to manage the last balls and to be able to celebrate the landing in the final tricolor. (Nicholas Baldo)

Civitanova-Milan 3-1 (27-25, 25-22, 23-25, 27-25)

The Lube train arrives at the end of the line, the final stop for the championship by beating Milan at the end of a match that saw the cooks start very strong, suffer the reaction of the Lombards in the third set and then go and take the success in the very painful fourth set. It’s the sixth consecutive Scudetto final for patron Fabio Giulianelli’s club, an achievement that comes in the year of the revolution and the rejuvenation of the squad. Lube’s comeback takes the form of a sold-out Eurosuole Forum which drags the red and whites to success as had already happened in game 5 against Verona. Mvp of the challenge the young Nikolov in a game with two faces, dominated at the beginning by Lube and then reopened by Milan who arrived one step away from the tie break and who comes out of the confrontation with very high heads, with the regret of having wasted the very chance in the match 4. It has been played in a sold out palas for days and the coaches rely on the very titular sextets. Civitanova immediately pushes hard to serve and with aces from Zaytsev and Nikolov he gets the first break (6-3) to which Milan replies with a 5-0 which brings the challenge back to total balance. Partial to elastic, with Lube trying to escape and Allianz responding immediately. So the ending promises to be very uncertain. Porro’s wrong serve gives the first set ball to the red and white, canceled by Loser. He then closes Nikolov’s block (6 points) on the third set ball, bringing Civitanova forward in the score. In the second the first break comes from the service turn of a very positive Chinenyeze who thanks to Yant’s attack and Ishikawa’s mistake launches Lube up 12-9. It’s up to the Tsar to lengthen the advantage of the tricolors who, however, suffer the overbearing Lombard comeback propitiated by Ishikawa’s tour of duty (21-20). Thus the end of the set was unexpected: Nikolov’s attack and Allianz’s foul on the net were worth four set balls for the cooks who finished second in the second half with Chinenyeze’s first half. In the third Milan returns and leans heavily on Ishikawa who has risen to his levels (7 and 75% in attack) and maintains control of the set from start to finish, resisting the comeback of the red and white and closing the second set ball shot directly out of service from Zaitsev. Fourth that sees Lube immediately push on the accelerator gaining 19-15: Porro’s ace gives Civitanova the creeps who finds himself only one point ahead in the fiery final: Ishikawa signs on 21-21, Piano gives the first match ball at the Lube which, however, is cancelled. Then the youngest of the band enters the scene, Nikolov who lands the last two points that send the tricolors to the final with the ace that seals the challenge. (Mauro Giustozzi)