Defending Italian champions Itas Trentino Trento reclaimed the top of the current SuperLega Credem Banca standings from reigning club world champions Sir Safety Susa Perugia in a direct duel on Sunday, which they won in four sets. The 10^th leg of the regular season over the weekend offered a number of other interesting results, including as many as three five-setters.

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In front of a sell-out crowd of four thousand fans, Luxembourgish opposite Kamil Rychlicki produced a match-high 21 points towards Trentino’s victory over Sir. His tally included three aces and two kill blocks. Outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto impressed with four aces as he added another 18 points to the team’s success and took the MVP award, while his cross-court teammate Daniele Lavia finished with 17 points. Four players reached the double digits on the other side of the net – Tunisian opposite Wassim Ben Tara with 18 points, Polish outside Kamil Semeniuk with 15, Ukrainian outside Oleh Plotnytskyi with 13 and Brazilian middle blocker Flavio Gualberto with 11.

Trentino rose to the top of the table on a 9-1 win-loss record and 25 points, pushing their rivals from Perugia down to second place on 8-2 and 24.

“Beautiful atmosphere this evening! I would like to thank all those who followed this challenge live or on TV because we certainly received an extra push from everyone,” said Trentino’s Serbian middle and captain Marco Podrascanin. “Playing against the world champions certainly galvanized us. We entered the game well and then we also demonstrated that we knew how to come back when the opponents had us against the ropes. The very high level of play seen tonight rewarded us. This is a nice Christmas gift for the fans.”

“This defeat was a shame because, from the impression I had on the court, we were playing well,” commented Sir’s Argentinean blocker Sebastian Sole. “In the fourth set, we were on top, but we lacked a bit of stability. They did very well at serving and we got stuck in the side-out with a few too many errors.”

In another high-level clash, last season’s runners-up Cucine Lube Civitanova managed a hard-fought away victory over Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza. Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija topped the charts with 27 points, including two aces and a kill block. Bulgarian outside Aleksandar Nikolov hammered three aces towards a total tally of 17 points and his contribution, especially in the tie-breaker, earned him the MVP award. French middle Barthelemy Chinenyeze added 13 points. Outside Ivan Zaytsev scored another 11 for the winners. Opposite Yuri Romano led the home team with 20 points, including three aces and a block, followed by outsides Ricardo Lucarelli with 16 points and Francesco Recine with 15, and Cuban middle Robertlandy Simon with 10.

This result did not prompt any movements in the standings. Gas Sales remained in third place on 6-4 and 21, while Lube stayed fifth on 7-3 and 18.

“It was a very important victory, because it gave us very important points for the ranking in view of the grid for the Coppa Italia quarterfinals,” MVP Nikolov said. “My performance? I'm happy to have remained on the court throughout, managing to make an important contribution with my serving in the fifth set.”

In Saturday’s leg opener, sixth-placed Valsa Group Modena were given a tough challenge upon their visit of bottom-of-the-table rookies Farmitalia Catania, but managed to come out victorious from the tie-breaker, . Russian opposite Maksim Sapozhkov and outside Tommaso Rinaldi led the way with 19 points each. Osmany Juantorena chipped in another 18, while Farmitalia’s Austrian opposite Paul Buchegger produced the match high of 26 points. Modena improved to 7-3 and 17, while Farmitalia improved to 1-9 and 4, as both stayed put in their places in the standings.

In yet another five-setter, still winless Gioiella Prisma Taranto put up a fight at Allianz Milan, but lost their sixth tie-breaker since the start of the season to stay in 11^th place on 0-10 and 6. Led by young Belgian opposite Ferre Reggers with 23 points, including four kill blocks and an ace, Allianz came back from a set down twice in the match to claim a win. Bulgarian star Matey Kaziyski excelled from the serving line with four aces to finish with 14 points, while as many as five players on the visitors’ side reached the double digits. The squad from Milan improved to 5-5 and 16 in seventh place, securing their spot in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals.

Rana Verona overtook Pallavolo Padova Padua in the eighth place, where the cut-off line for the national cup is. They mastered a shutout of 10^th-placed Cisterna Volley at home with 18 points each from outsides Rok Mozic of Slovenia and Francesco Sani and climbed above the red line on 4-6 and 12 points, two points clear of Padova, who lost their away game at fourth-placed Mint Vero Volley Monza in straight sets, . With 12 points each from Japanese outside Ran Takahashi and Canadian opposite Arthur Szwarc, Vero Volley upped their record to 7-3 and 20.

Padova still have a shot at the Coppa Italia bracket, but they will have to earn the three points against Trentino as the champions visit them for the last leg of the first half of the regular season on 26 December. Meanwhile, Rana Verona will have to win at Lube, if they want to be sure they will not be overtaken by Padova.

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 11th leg:
Dec 26, 15:30 local (14:30 UTC): Cucine Lube Civitanova v Rana Verona
Dec 26, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Allianz Milan
Dec 26, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Gioiella Prisma Taranto v Farmitalia Catania
Dec 26, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Pallavolo Padova Padua v Itas Trentino Trento
Dec 26, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Cisterna Volley v Mint Vero Volley Monza
Dec 26, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Valsa Group Modena v Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024: full schedule and results

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