Thrilling! Three five-setters in second quarterfinals, while Lube sweep another upset

It was only the second leg of the quarterfinals in the Italian men’s volleyball SuperLega Credem Banca and the playoffs are already living up to what they are always expected to be – thrilling! Without much regard to the roles of favorites and underdogs, three of the four matches over the weekend were pushed to five-set resolutions, while in the fourth, Cucine Lube Civitanova delivered another upset of defending champions Itas Trentino Trento, this time in straight sets.

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The quarterfinal series between Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza and Valsa Group Modena is the only one, in which the score was levelled to 1-1 in wins. On Saturday, they forced their duel to another overtime tie-breaker, with Gas Sales, who finished the regular season in fifth place, claiming a 3-2 (18-25, 25-17, 28-30, 25-21, 18-16) home victory over fourth-placed Modena. This time, the oldest of the Porro brothers, Gas Sales’ setter Paolo earned the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, while opposite Alessandro Bovolenta contributed a match-high 23 points. Turkish opposite Efe Mandiraci added another 21 points, including two aces and a kill block, while his Cuban cross-court teammate Jose Gutierrez chipped in with 17, including two aces and two blocks. Paolo Porro’s younger brother, 21-year-old outside Luca, who was the MVP of the previous game between the two teams, once again led Modena with a team-high 21 points. His teammates – Belarusian outside Uladzislau Davyskiba with 17 points, middle blocker Giovanni Sanguinetti with 11, and Austrian opposite Paul Buchegger with 10 – also reached the double digits in scoring.

“I just have to congratulate the guys on how they played the match,” said Gas Sales’ head coach Dante Boninfante. “Many of them are in their first playoff experience, and some took on too much responsibility after game one. That explains the start of the first set. Then, the team loosened up and it was a great match. From the third set onward, we saw a very even playing field. After all, the two teams are evenly matched. I am satisfied. I was after game one too, but winning this tie-breaker is a big deal. Now, let's focus on game three!”

Sunday’s second quarterfinal match between last year’s silver medalists Cucine Lube Civitanova, who finished this regular season in sixth place, and reigning champions Itas Trentino Trento, who took third place, also resulted in an upset. This time at home, in front of 3,671 fans, Lube took out the mighty opponent in straight sets, 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-20). Bulgarian outside Aleksandar Nikolov once again led the way as the best scorer of the match, with one ace, one kill block and a 65% success rate in attack towards a 19-point tally. Lube’s other outside Mattia Bottolo added another 13 points, including two aces and two stuffs, and was named MVP. Their Spanish counterpart Jordi Ramon led Trentino with 13 points.

Eighth-placed Vero Volley Monza got close to upsetting regular season winners and reigning club world champions Sir Susa Scai Perugia. A home crowd of 3,611 cheered on as the underdogs took the lead twice during the match. However, the mighty visitors not only came back in both cases, but also pushed on to win the tie-breaker and double their lead in the series. Sir’s Polish outside Kamil Semeniuk produced a team-high 22 points towards the 3-2 (22-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-19, 15-11) victory, recording a 60% success rate in attack, and received the MVP nomination. Middle blocker Roberto Russo spiked 14 points at a 78% success rate and raised two blocks to finish with 16 points. Tunisian opposite Wassim Ben Tara added another 15 for the winners. 19-year-old opposite Diego Frascio spearheaded Vero Volley with a match-high 27 points. 18-year-old Bulgarian outside Zhasmin Velichkov fired three aces and finished with 17 points. His German cross-court teammate Erik Rohrs scored 14 points, while middle Thomas Beretta impressed with six kill blocks towards a 10-point tally.

Regular season runners-up Rana Verona also had to mount a comeback upon their visit to seventh-placed Allianz Milan, but from two sets down. In the overtime of the tie-breaker, Verona completed a spectacular 3-2 (25-27, 20-25, 25-16, 25-22, 17-15) reverse sweep, inspired by their American playmaker Micah Christenson, who claimed the MVP honors. In addition to scoring four kill blocks and an ace himself, he helped four of his teammates reach the double digits in the match – Malian outside Noumory Keita with 21 points, Brazilian sub-in opposite Darlan Souza with 18, Slovenian outside Rok Mozic with 13, and Australian middle Aidan Zingel with 10. Allianz’s Belgian opposite Ferre Reggers also put up four kill blocks, while swinging at a 62% success rate towards a match-high 33 points. Outside hitters Tatsunori Otsuka of Japan and Tommaso Ichino added 14 and 13 points, respectively, for the home team.

The third leg of the quarterfinal playoffs will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 17 and 18.

SuperLega Credem Banca 2025-2026 quarterfinal playoffs, 3rd leg:
Mar 17, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Valsa Group Modena v Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza
Mar 18, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Sir Susa Scai Perugia v Vero Volley Monza
Mar 18, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Itas Trentino Trento v Cucine Lube Civitanova
Mar 18, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Rana Verona v Allianz Milan

SuperLega Credem Banca 2025-2026 schedule and results

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