Ishikawa MVP as Sir defend Supercoppa crown in rollercoaster final

In front of a sell-out crowd of almost four thousand fans at the Palazzo Wanny in Florence on Sunday, Sir Susa Vim Perugia defended their Italian men’s volleyball super cup crown, earning the trophy for the third consecutive and, overall, the sixth time in history, all within the last eight editions of the competition. Their new acquisition, Japanese star Yuki Ishikawa, claimed the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award of the five-set rollercoaster Del Monte Supercoppa 2024 showdown against Itas Trentino Trento.

• Watch Supercoppa replays on VBTV.

Ishikawa, who joined the reigning club world and national champions this summer, led them to a 3-2 (25-18, 19-25, 15-25, 25-17, 15-9) victory. The outside hitter contributed 20 points, including two kill blocks and an ace. He also put away the match winner in the tie-breaker before being honoured as the Supercoppa final MVP.

His cross-court teammate Kamil Semeniuk of Poland added another 15 points, with two aces and a block on his tally, while Tunisian opposite Wassim Ben Tara was the third player on the winners’ side to reach the double digits with 14 points (two aces, two blocks).

Trentino’s new opposite Gabriel Garcia of the United States hammered out a match-high 24 points (three aces, one block). The squad put up an impressive blocking effort in this match, piling up as many as 18 stuffs against only half as many for the Block Devils. A third of the Yellow-and-Blues’ kill blocks were authored by another new addition to the Trentino roster, Brazilian middle blocker Flavio Gualberto. He also scored six points in attack to finish with 12 total. Outside Alessandro Michieletto finished with 11 points.

“We gave the best of us to win this final,” said Sir’s middle Roberto Russo. “We started very well, they - a little less well, but then they put us in difficulty. We were good at staying in the game, which, at this level, is not easy. Now we celebrate this cup.”

“In the fourth set we were in a hurry to close the actions. We were in a moment, in which we were playing very well: it is a credit to the boys, because for a good part of the match we played as we wanted,” commented Trentino’s head coach Fabio Soli. “We had a great team in front of us that did not leave anything until the last point of the match. For us, it was important to put them in difficulty.”

Del Monte Supercoppa 2024: all results

The new 2024-2025 SuperLega Credem Banca season is set to start next week. In the first match of their defence of the national title, Sir will welcome Rana Verona to the Pala Barton in Perugia, on Sunday, September 29, starting at 17:30 local time (15:30 UCT). For Trentino, the SuperLega season will open half an hour later with a game at Cisterna Volley.

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Del Monte Supercoppa Italiana 2024
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