Last round of Italian A1 championship was full of surprises. Macerata lost in Valentia, Treviso in Taranto and Modena beat Italian champion.
TONNO CALLIPO VIBO VALENTIA – LUBE BANCA MARCHE MACERATA 3:2
Vibo Valentia obtained a splendid victory over one of the top teams of the league. Macerata made mistakes and if it were not for the presence of Vermiglio and Omrcen, it could have been even worse. A golden point against a team that had only tire out in the fourth set after three good ones.
Jon Uriarte (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “Thanks to everyone, from players to fans and staff. We’ve played a great game at the end of an intense week of work. We are happy with what we’ve done and for this win that allow us to stand tall in the league table”.
COPRATLANTIDE PIACENZA – TRENKWALDER MODENA 1:3
Modena came back from Piacenza with a win. Led by Esko and Diaz, it did just about everything well. Piacenza was quick to forget about the debacle of the first set and tried to take it to the tie-break. It fell just short as Modena concluded on an unbelievable 35-33 score in the fourth. A win over the champions is always significant. This brings confidence and enables the team to catch up Piacenza in second place in the table.
Silvano Prandi (Trenkwalder Modena): “Piacenza played poorly, it wasn’t consistent and we took advantage. I’m a bit angry because at 8-0 in the fourth set, we let them back in, and in such occasion you usually pay such mistakes”.
PRISMA TARANTO – SISLEY TREVISO 3:1
To say the key to the game was Rivaldo’s comeback would be too easy. The Brazilian outside hitter came in every end of sets won by Taranto, scoring the clutch points. His return was decisive but so was Ellia’s. Montagnani’s team was balanced again in every fundamental and it had a near-perfect performance in which every player did his bit”.
Cleber de Oliveira (Prisma Taranto): “We showed all our potential, we put the difficult last few weeks behind us, and took three points against a great team. This gives us great motivation, I am happy with my performance and the one of my teammates. We worked hard in training and it eventually paid off in front of our fans who were fantastic”.
ESSE-TI CARILO LORETO – BRE BANCA LANNUTTI CUNEO 0:3
Cuneo dominated Loreto, which had Diachkov back in the starting six but which was without the fighting spirit of the first outings. No suspense, Cuneo had its way from the first points on with its play well orchestrated by Nikola Grbic (MVP). Besides, it blocked no less than 16 times.
ACQUA PARADISO MONZA – ARAN CUCINE ABRUZZO PINETO 3:0
Monza is back to winning ways in its gym. It earned a straight set win over Piento. Dragan Traviuca was the best on court, he handled his spikers with authority. The ice on the cake came just one point from the end with Simone Buti’s hundredth block at 25-24.
YOGA FORLI – RPA-LUIGIBACCHI.IT PERUGIA 2:3
Thrilling game, a hard-fought one that could have gone either way. Forli and Perugia used their main weapons, in a tight game that the crowd enjoyed. In the end, the team that made the least mistakes pulled it off. Molducci’s team responded to the great technique of Perugia with good digging and a great variety of schemes. Stokr named MVP: but Botti and Savani did very well too. As for Forli, Carroll stood out again, with Stancu (4 blocks and 71% in attack on 14 balls) and De Pandis, who finished with 74%.
Italian volleyball league results and ranking
from legavolley