Trentino claim third Supercoppa trophy

Itas Trentino Trento won the Del Monte Supercoppa 2021, claiming the coveted Italian trophy for the third time in their history, after 2011 and 2013. Their captain Matey Kaziyski was named the Most Valuable Player of the two-day event at the Eurosuole Forum in Civitanova Marche.

In Sunday’s final, Trentino mastered a 3-1 (25-11, 25-21, 31-33, 25-14) victory over Vero Volley Monza, who claimed a historic first medal in any of the major men’s national competitions in Italian volleyball. The five-time club world champions completely dominated the first set of the trophy match. Vero Volley’s performance gradually picked up pace. They were more competitive in the second set and, in the third, they denied three Trentino match points to eventually take the set deep into overtime. Coach Angelo Lorenzetti’s team bounced back in the fourth to regain control and cruise on to victory.

Bulgarian star Matey Kaziyski, who was also part of the Trentino squad that won their first Supercoppa 10 years ago, was the leading scorer in Sunday’s win, hammering away 21 points, including three kill blocks and an ace. Alessandro Michieletto produced 18, followed by Daniele Lavia and Serbian middle Srecko Lisinac with 16 each. While Trentino’s blockers delivered a solid 14 stuffs towards the victory, the team’s offence was brilliantly conducted by playmaker Riccardo Sbertoli, who also showed some fantastic digs in defence and scored an ace and two stuffs. Sbertoli was the one who buried the game winner with a monster block. Vero Volley’s German opposite Gyorgy Grozer was the top scorer of the match on 22 points, including five aces.

In Saturday’s first semifinal, Vero Volley dropped a sensational upset of reigning club world champions, national champions and tournament hosts Cucine Lube Civitanova. With the help of 11 aces and 11 kill blocks, the squad from Monza achieved a 3-1 (25-22, 25-16, 21-25, 25-20) victory to reach the first national-level final in the history of the club. Gyorgy Grozer delivered a match-high 21 points, including three aces and three stuffs. Czech outside Donovan Dzavoronok chipped in with another 18 points, while his Belarusian colleague Uladzislau Davyskiba added 16, one clear of Lube’s best scorer Ricardo Lucarelli.

Trentino completely dominated the second semifinal, dethroning defending Supercoppa laureates Sir Safety Conad Perugia in a convincing 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-23) clean slate. Matey Kaziyski contributed 15 points, including three kill blocks, to the victory, while Sir’s outside Wilfredo Leon produced the match high of 16.

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