Ngapeth against Leon in weekend’s big clash in Italy

With another weekend of the Italian men’s league just around the corner, anticipation is building ahead of the big clash between Leo Shoes PerkinElmer Modena and Sir Safety Conad Perugia at 18.00 CET / 17.00 GMT on Sunday. The match is one of six SuperLega Credem Banca fixtures scheduled for the upcoming weekend, all available live and on demand on Volleyball TV.

There will be plenty of stars on both sides of the net to entertain the spectators at the PalaPanini sports hall in Modena and those watching the game on Volleyball TV. Two players, arguably the world’s best volleyballers in recent years, France’s Earvin Ngapeth and Poland’s Wilfredo Leon, will go head to head in an exciting battle that could well offer a pre-taste of what is to come when the Italian title is decided later in the spring.

Just a day after turning 31 on Saturday, Leo Shoes’ outside hitter Ngapeth, gold medallist and MVP of last year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, will lead the home team in their quest for a 14th SuperLega win since the start of the season. The squad from Modena are currently fourth in the standings on 35 points and a 13-3 win-loss record, with two games in hand compared to their opponents from Perugia, who are table leaders on 50 points and a 16-2 record. So far this season, Ngapeth has piled up 198 spiking kills, 28 stuff blocks and, most notably, 30 direct serving points, 29 more than his teammate, the well-known ace master Nimir Abdel-Aziz.

The Dutch opposite, who has tallied a total of 297 points so far, is expected to once again be the main scoring weapon in the hands of coach Andrea Giani, who will also rely on the talent of all his other star players, like Brazilian setter Bruno Rezende, Cuban-born Brazilian outside Yoandy Leal, middle blockers Dragan Stankovic of Serbia and Daniele Mazzone of Italy and Italian libero Salvatore Rossini, who carried the team through the heavy task of winning in five-sets last week at third-placed Itas Trentino.

Like their opponents from Modena, the team from Perugia are also coming into this important collision from an away win at Trentino. In a midweek CEV Champions League game on Thursday evening, the Block Devils mastered a 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-23) shutout of Trentino to stay unbeaten in their pool and secure a spot in the quarterfinals. Wilfredo Leon topped the charts on 21 points, including three aces and two blocks. In 17 SuperLega matches, the 28-year-old Cuban-born Polish international has hammered out an impressive record of 329 points, including 52 aces and 26 blocks. That makes him by far the league’s best server, as well as the most efficient scorer on an average of 5.31 points per set.

Like his counterpart Ngapeth, Perugia’s outside will also be surrounded by a constellation of superior talent and coach Nikola Grbic will have to make the most of the services of key players like Italian setter Simone Giannelli, Luxembourgish opposite Kamil Rychlicki, American outside Matthew Anderson, middle blockers Sebastian Sole of Argentina and Stefano Mengozzi of Italy and Italian liberos Massimo Colaci and Alessandro Piccinelli.

Following their win on Thursday, Perugia have now extended their winning streak to seven consecutive matches across all competitions. Since the start of the season, they have lost only three of 25 official games played, two of those to Trentino and one to Modena. In a SuperLega encounter on November 24, the visitors from Modena celebrated with a narrow five-set victory (17-15 in the tie-breaker) with 22 points from Ngapeth against the match-high 26 from Leon.

The big match at the PalaPanini on Sunday starts at 18:00 local time. At the same time, second-placed Cucine Lube Civitanova (42, 14-3) visit winless Consar RCM Ravenna, and Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia entertain Verona Volley. Earlier on Sunday, Trentino welcome Gioiella Prisma Taranto at 15:00.

The SuperLega weekend begins on Saturday at 18:30, when Kioene Padua host Vero Volley Monza, and ends on Sunday with the late match between Top Volley Cisterna and Allianz Milan starting at 20:30.

• Watch all the matches of the Italian men's and women's top-division leagues live or on demand on VolleyballWorld.tv.

• Get all the results, statistics, schedules and more on Volleyball World’s SuperLega 2021-2022 site.