Mint Vero Volley Monza took the three points from the visit to their neighbours Allianz Milan and overtook the opponents in the current standings as the games of the 19^th leg of Italy’s SuperLega Credem Banca regular season unfolded on Wednesday, offering more interesting results.

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Vero Volley’s Brazilian playmaker and Canadian trio of strikers shined again as they led the team to a victory at Allianz, with which the club from Monza collected 30 points and a 10-9 win-loss record, and took over the sixth place in the table from their neighbours from Milan, who are now seventh on 30 and 9-10.

While setter Fernando Kreling, known as Cachopa, brilliantly conducted the team and earned the Most Valuable Player award, opposite Arthur Szwarc and outside hitter Stephen Maar spearheaded Vero Volley with a match-high 22 points each, with Szwarc registering as many as four kill blocks. The other Canadian outside, Eric Loeppky, also reached the double digits with 14 points, including four aces. After staying off the courts for a while because of an injury, Vero Volley’s Japanese star Ran Takahashi was back in action, but only as a substitution during three of the sets. On the other side of the net, his compatriot Yuki Ishikawa led Allianz with 14 points, followed by Argentinean middle blocker Agustin Loser with 13, Cuban outside Osniel Mergarejo with 12 and Croatian opposite Petar Dirlic, also with 12, while Bulgarian legend Matey Kaziyski and captain Matteo Piano did not appear in play.

“They were better than us, there's no point in hiding it,” said Loser after the match. “Monza played a good game, very technical. We tried to get back in the third set and we succeeded, but in the fourth we suffered from those three or four aces from Loeppky, which were decisive. Then it was really complicated to come back. But now we have to raise our heads immediately because there is another final on Sunday.”

“We achieved a great result and at times we also played very well,” commented Vero Volley’s middle Gianluca Galassi. “We put a lot of pressure on from the start, which is what we wanted, given that this was a direct clash. We are approaching the end of the season, every point is fundamental and we will try to get as high as possible in the standings.”

Fifth-placed Rana Verona continued their successful run with a upset of visiting Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza and improved to 33 and 12-7. Gas Sales are still in third place on 36 and 11-8. While Slovenian outside Rok Mozic, Iranian opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad and Czech outside Donovan Dzavoronok led Verona’s scoring with 19, 14 and 12 points, respectively, libero Francesco D’Amico had a brilliant performance in defence and reception to deserve the MVP award. Gas Sales’ Brazilian outside Yoandy Leal was the best scorer of the game with 24 points. The other Brazilian outside, Ricardo Lucarelli, opposite Yuri Romano and middle Edoardo Caneschi finished with 12, 10 and 10 points, respectively.

In another high-level clash, defending champions Itas Trentino Trento also continued their victorious quest with a home win over last year’s runners-up Cucine Lube Civitanova to up their record to 52 and 18-1 on top of the standings. Lube are fourth on 35 and 13-6. Trentino’s outside Alessandro Michieletto topped the scorers’ chart of the match with 23 points, including two aces and two blocks. Luxembourgish opposite Kamil Rychlicki and outside Daniele Lavia added 18 points apiece. Cuban outside Marlon Yant and Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija were Lube’s best scorers with 15 points each. Outside Mattia Bottolo finished with 10.

The 19^th leg also offered a couple of hard-fought five-setters. In one of them, Belarusian opposite Uladzislau Davyskiba contributed 28 points towards Valsa Group Modena’s home win over Gioiella Prisma Taranto, while Cuban outside Jose Gutierrez scored 25 times for the visitors. Eighth-placed Modena improved to 24 and 10-9, while the team from Taranto, which has already played eight tie-breakers and lost seven of them this season, is 11^th on 12 and 2-17.

10^th-placed Pallavolo Padova Padua squeezed out a away victory over 12^th-placed Farmitalia Catania, with outside Luca Porro leading the way with 25 points. Farmitalia’s outside Luigi Randazzo led his team with 22. Padova have now collected 18 points and a 7-12 win-loss record, while Farmitalia are stuck at the bottom on 6 and 1-18.

Other than losing a set, reigning club world champions Sir Susa Vim Perugia did not allow any surprises at Cisterna Volley and claimed a victory to improve to 44 and 14-5 in the runner-up position in the table. Cisterna are ninth, now two points away from the cut-off line for the playoffs, on 22 and 7-12. Poland’s Wilfredo Leon led Sir with 19 points, including three aces and two blocks, while Cisterna’s French opposite Theo Faure delivered a match-high 23 points.

SuperLega action resumes with the matches of the 20^th leg – two on Saturday, February 17, and four on Sunday, February 18.

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 20th leg:
Feb 17, 17:30 local (16:30 UTC): Mint Vero Volley Monza v Farmitalia Catania
Feb 17, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza v Gioiella Prisma Taranto
Feb 18, 16:00 local (15:00 UTC): Pallavolo Padova Padua v Sir Susa Vim Perugia
Feb 18, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Itas Trentino Trento v Valsa Group Modena
Feb 18, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Cucine Lube Civitanova v Cisterna Volley
Feb 18, 19:00 local (18:00 UTC): Allianz Milan v Rana Verona

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024: full schedule and results

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