MVP Ben Tara leads Perugia’s comeback to defend Supercoppa title

Propelled by an excellent performance of MVP Wassim Ben Tara, Sir Susa Vim Perugia staged an incredible comeback against Cucine Lube Civitanova to retain the Del Monte Supercoppa Italiana title on Wednesday, in Biella.

After going down in the first two sets of the final match of the two-day tournament that reunited the four best teams of the 2022-2023 Italian season, the Block Devils turned the tables on Civitanova and triumphed with a dramatic 3-2 (22-25, 23-25, 25-21, 34-32, 15-12) victory to successfully defend their title in front of 5,000 fans.

• Watch Del Monte Supercoppa Italiana on demand on VBTV.

Playing just his third match with Perugia, Tunisian opposite Ben Tara led their comeback in the Supercoppa final, producing a team-high 21 points, with 15 kills, five aces and one block. The 27-year-old player celebrated the biggest title of his career at the club level.

“This is a really special moment for me,” Ben Tara told Volleyball World. “It was just my second match as a starter and to already be able to lift a trophy, which is always the most important thing, and be awarded as the MVP, it’s a great feeling. (Simone) Giannelli helped me a lot today. It was my first final here in Italy and I was struggling a little bit at the beginning, but he kept pushing me. I hope we can continue at this level and celebrate more titles during the season.”

The champions had three players leaving the court with 20+ points as team captain Wilfredo Leon matched Ben Tara’s production with 18 kills, two aces and one block while fellow Polish outside hitter Kamil Semeniuk added 20, all in kills.

“Winning a trophy in Italy is very hard because the level is extremely high and we don’t take it for granted,” Perugia’s setter Simone Giannelli said. “Civitanova are one of the best teams in the world and I’m very happy that we came back after two difficult sets because that’s not an easy thing to do. After set two, we just wanted to keep pushing and playing because in volleyball, at any moment you can find a play that changes the outcome of the match. The Supercoppa is ours, but it’s going to be a long season and we have a lot of challenges.”

The Supercoppa final’s top scorer was Civitanova’s Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija, who reached 22 points (18 kills, three blocks, one ace) – Italian outside hitter Ivan Zaytsev tallied 15.

With the victory, Perugia confirmed their supremacy in the event in the last decade as the Block Devils won five of the last seven editions of the tournament – 2017-2018, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. It was the first victory of the team under the guidance of new head coach Angelo Lorenzetti, who arrived from Itas Trentino.

“Civitanova played really well today and the fact what we were able to win the match after being down 2-0 makes me very happy,” Brazilian middle blocker Flavio Gualberto remarked. “It’s mentally very difficult to come back in a situation like that and we were talking about remaining focused and pushing each other up. It was important for us to win a trophy so early in the season and it shows we’re building a strong team for the next months.”

Libero Massimo Colaci, who joined the team ahead of the 2017-2018 season, is the only player in the current squad to have been a part of each of the five Perugia victories in the Supercoppa.

It was also the ninth national title secured by the reigning world champions, who triumphed in the Italian Cup in 2017-2018, 2018-2019 and 2021-2022 and topped the standings in the SuperLega in 2017-2018.

SuperLega meeting scheduled for Sunday

After battling for the Supercoppa title, Civitanova and Perugia will meet again over the weekend in the third week of play of the 2023-2024 SuperLega Credem Banca. The match will be played in Civitanova Marche and will start at 18:00 local time (17:00 GMT).

Quick links:
Del Monte Supercoppa Italina
Lega Pallavolo SuperLega Credem Banca
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