Sir Susa Vim Perugia and Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza persevered through five-set battles on Sunday to claim away victories in the 12th leg of the Italian SuperLega Credem Banca. At the very start of the second half of the regular season on Friday, SuperLega rookies Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina also won on the road, stunning last season’s silver medallists Mint Vero Volley Monza in straight sets, to celebrate the club’s historic first victory in the top division.
Superlega 2024/25
Sir and Gas Sales celebrate away wins in five-set battles
Recap of weekend’s Italian SuperLega matches
Published 07:30, 16 Dec 2024
Oleh Plotnytskyi in a tight embrace with his Sir teammates
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In front of five thousand spectators on the stands, Ukrainian star Oleh Plotnytskyi fired six aces towards Sir Susa Vim Perugia’s 3-2 (25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 22-25, 15-7) win at Rana Verona. The outside hitter produced a match-high total of 27 points, also including four kill blocks, and earned the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award of the match. Tunisian opposite Wassim Ben Tara added another 17 points, while Polish outside Kamil Semeniuk finished with 10. His Slovenian counterpart Rok Mozic led the home team with 26 points, backed up by Malian opposite Noumory Keita with 19. In what was their last official match as reigning 2023 club world champions, Sir picked up their 12th win since the start of the SuperLega season to remain unbeaten on top of the current standings on 32 points. Verona are down to fifth place on 22 points and a 7-5 win-loss record.
They were overtaken by Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, who also celebrated an away five-set win, 3-2 (25-21, 16-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-6) over Valsa Group Modena, to rise to third place on 23 and 8-4. Modena remained in eighth place on 15 and 5-7. Their Austrian opposite Paul Buchegger was the best scorer of the match with 22 points, including three aces, while Gas Sales’ substitute opposite Alessandro Bovolenta, who was among the starters only for the last two sets of the match, led the winners with 16 points.
“It was a tough match,” Gas Sales’ head coach Andrea Anastasi said. “Modena played great volleyball in the first three sets, but then we increased the level of the game with Bovolenta, who entered the court and did great things. Now we are all recovering slowly a bit and, also in training, the level has returned to being good. I am confident because I see a lot of concentration and desire in every practice and every match.”
In Friday’s leg opener, Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina wrote another important page in the club’s history, achieving the first-ever SuperLega victory. And they did so in straight sets, on the road, at last season’s silver medallists Mint Vero Volley Monza. Spearheaded by their Serbian opposite Dusan Petkovic with a match-high 18 points, the rookies hammered out a 3-0 (25-22, 26-24, 25-21) shutout. This result did not change the positions of the two teams in the table, but narrowed the gap between them to only two points, setting the stage for a fierce race for survival in the elite division. Vero Volley are in 11th place on 7 and 3-9. Grottazzolina continue to trail bottom, in 12th place, now on 5 and 1-11.
“I'm very happy that we managed to win!” exclaimed Petkovic. “We've been waiting for this victory for a long time. It's finally here and the emotion is great. I hope that this can only be the first, that it is a new beginning for us, and that many others can follow.”
One more 12th-leg match was played on Sunday. With a match-high 19-point contribution from Belgian opposite Ferre Reggers, Allianz Milan mastered a 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-21) home win over Gioiella Prisma Taranto and improved to 21 and 7-5 in sixth place. Prisma stayed in 10th place on 10 and 3-9.
The remaining two fixtures of the leg - Itas Trentino Trento v Cisterna Volley and Sonepar Padova Padua v Cucine Lube Civitanova – were postponed to a later date yet to be determined, because of Trentino and Lube’s participation in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship that concluded on Sunday in Brazil.
The 13th-leg matches are set to take place on December 21 and 22.
SuperLega Credem Banca 2024-2025 13th leg:
Dec 21, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza v Mint Vero Volley Monza
Dec 21, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Cisterna Volley v Rana Verona
Dec 22, 17:00 local (16:00 UTC): Gioiella Prisma Taranto v Itas Trentino Trento
Dec 22, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Cucine Lube Civitanova v Allianz Milan
Dec 22, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Sonepar Padova Padua
Dec 22, 19:00 local (18:00 UTC): Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina v Valsa Group Modena
