Probably the biggest surprise of Italy’s men’s volleyball club season 2022-2023 was the elimination of Sir Safety Susa Perugia as early as the quarterfinal playoffs of the league. Well, maybe it wasn’t such a big surprise, after all, since it was the fourth time in a row the team won the regular season, but failed to win the champions’ title. To break that spell, the club competing in the upcoming 2023-2024 season of the SuperLega Credem Banca season under the name Sir Susa Vim Perugia hired coach Angelo Lorenzetti at the helm of their stellar squad.
Superlega 2023
Can Block Devils break the spell with Lorenzetti in charge?
The Italian title has been slipping through Perugia’s fingers since they first won it in 2018
Published 04:07, 19 Oct 2023
New coach Lorenzetti speaks to Sir Susa Vim Perugia’s players at practice (source: sirsafetyperugia.it)
- Watch Italy’s SuperLega Credem Banca live and on demand on VBTV.
Since claiming their maiden national crown in 2018, Sir Safety have continuously been considered favourites for the title every single season, but other than the 2019-2020 season, which was interrupted prematurely by the coronavirus pandemic, they have topped the final regular season standings, but have not reached the top of the podium. In 2019, 2021 and 2022, the team from Perugia did reach the final championship playoff, only to lose to Cucine Lube Civitanova and settle for silver. Last season was a bit different...
It seemed to be going quite well for Sir. They won the Supercoppa Italiana trophy. Then they went on to win the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship for the first time in history. The first glitch in the win-it-all plan came with the Coppa Italia semifinal loss to eventual winners Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza. Still, the Block Devils completed a perfect run through the SuperLega regular season and won it unbeaten in 22 matches. The second glitch was the loss of the CEV Champions League semifinals against champions-to-be Grupa Azoty Kedzierzyn-Kozle of Poland. And then came the setback in the quarterfinal playoffs against Allianz Milan. The team that had finished eighth in the regular season managed to beat their opponents from Perugia in three of the five matches played in the series, which meant this time heavy favourite Sir did not even make it to the final like the previous three times, but finished in sixth place instead, not even making it to the European Cups.
A change in the head coaching position followed with Angelo Lorenzetti, who had steered Itas Trentino Trento to the national crown, taking over legendary Andrea Anastasi at the helm of Sir Susa Vim Perugia.
“It is clear that each coach has his own characteristics and ideas of the game and we will also need to push on this aspect,” coach Lorenzetti told sirsafetyperugia.it. “Obviously, everything cannot be done in one week (after the return of all internationals) and a longer period will be needed. The initial impact will be very important, there will have to be an empathetic listening to the various components, the new arrivals will have to listen to the teammates who were here before them and who are a little ahead in terms of tactics and the game system. What will certainly depend on us will be how we work, how we talk to each other and how we stay together."
The star-studded core of the squad was largely kept intact. The only foreign players, who left the club, were Luxembourgish opposite Kamil Rychlicki, transferring to Itas Trentino Trento, and Cuban outside hitter Julio Cesar Cardenas, moving to Pallavolo Padova Padua. Middle blocker Stefano Mengozzi and libero Alessandro Piccinelli were the Italian departures.
Italy’s Simone Giannelli and Slovenia’s Gregor Ropret stayed on to take care of the setter’s position. Cuban opposite Jesus Herrera, outsides Wilfredo Leon and Kamil Semeniuk of Poland, and Oleh Plotnytskyi of Ukraine, middle blockers Sebastian Sole of Argentina, Flavio Gualberto of Brazil and Roberto Russo of Italy, and Italian libero Massimo Colaci complete the long line-up of phenomenal players, who stayed on to defend Perugia’s colours during the new season.
They were joined by one new foreign addition, 2.03m-tall Tunisian opposite Wassim Ben Tara, who had previously played for clubs in France, Poland and Qatar, and three Italians: well-seasoned middle Davide Candelaro, outside hitter Tim Held and libero Alessandro Toscani.
“In Perugia, the goal is always the same: to win everything,” Ukrainian international Oleh Plotnytskyi told Volleyball World. “This summer my Ukrainian teammates and I put down our top dreams or goals on paper. I wrote the Olympic Games in first place, and winning the Italian championship in second...”
In addition to last year’s Club World Championship title and the 2018 Italian title, Sir’s collection of trophies includes three Italian national cups and four Italian super cups. They also reached the Champions League final in 2017, earning continental silver.
The club’s new season will make its official start on Sunday, October 22, with a home game against SuperLega newcomers Farmitalia Catania, starting at 20:00 local time (18:00 UTC). Sir’s first away match will be a second-leg fixture at Mint Vero Volley Monza on October 29 at 19:30 (18:30). The team from Perugia will start the defence of their Supercoppa Italiana trophy with a semifinal clash with champions Trentino on October 31 at 17:30 (16:30) in Biella.
