Perugia survive at Modena as thrilling clash lives up to expectations

What a match! Two and a half hours, five sets, two of them pushed into overtime, the tie-breaker also decided by the narrowest of margins, level point score, and four of the world’s biggest volleyball stars delivering 20+ points each to the delight of the spectators – this is the short story of Sunday’s thrilling clash in Italy’s SuperLega Credem Banca, in which table leaders Sir Safety Conad Perugia persevered through to snatch a 3-2 (25-20, 30-28, 18-25, 24-26, 15-13) victory at Leo Shoes PerkinElmer Modena.

After a relatively one-sided first set, the gap in the extended second never exceeded two points, and it took 58 rallies before the visitors from Perugia could double their lead. The home side reacted swiftly, dominating the third set. In the fourth, they recovered from a 17-12 opponent lead to catch up and level the score after turning it around to a 26-24 close. Even in the deciding set, the team from Modena were able to come back from a five-point deficit (9-4) to within one before Wilfredo Leon would put an end to it all at 15-13 Perugia’s way.

The Cuban-born Polish outside hitter was Perugia’s top-scoring player, hammering out four aces and registering a 55% success rate in attack towards a total tally of 25 points to earn the MVP award. Led by Italian setter Simone Giannelli, American star outside Matthew Anderson chipped in with another 19 points, while Luxembourgish international opposite Kamil Rychlicki added 18, including three aces and two blocks. Argentinean middle blocker Sebastian Sole impressed with his 82% success in attack and four kill blocks towards a 13-point tally.

Dutch opposite Nimir Abdel-Aziz produced the match high of 27 points, including three aces, two blocks and 61% in offence, for the home team. Cuban-born Brazilian Yoandy Leal fell just one short – 26 points (two aces, four blocks). French star Earvin Ngapeth also exceeded the 20+ mark, spiking 21 kills at a 64% success rate.

After 150 minutes of play, the final point score was even, 112-112.

Perugia improved to 52 points and a 17-2 win-loss record to consolidate their leadership of the league standings, while Modena are in fourth on 36 and 13-4, with two games in hand.

All of the weekend’s five other 21st-leg matches were resolved in straight sets.

With 24 points from Ivan Zaytsev, second-placed Cucine Lube Civitanova mastered a 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-21) away shutout of winless Consar RCM Ravenna to narrow the gap between them and the leaders to seven points. Lube are now on 45 points and a 15-3 win-loss, with a game in hand.

Third-placed Itas Trentino Trento kept pace with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-14) home win over Gioiella Prisma Taranto. Bulgarian star Matey Kaziyski delivered the match high of 18 points, including six aces, towards his team’s success. Trentino improved to 42 and 13-6.

Allianz Milan managed a clean slate at Top Volley Cisterna to win by 3-0 (25-21, 25-11, 26-24) and reinforce their fifth place on 10-8 and 30 points. Their Japanese outside Yuki Ishikawa and his Top Volley counterpart Stephen Maar of Canada shared the top scorer honours of the match on 13 points each.

Vero Volley Monza added three points to their tally with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-22) win at Kioene Padua and are now standing in sixth place on 28 and 10-10. Czech international Donovan Dzavoronok aced six times towards Vero Volley’s victory, while Kioene’s German opposite Linus Weber registered a match-high 17 points.

A 3-0 (26-24, 25-14, 25-23) home win for Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia over Verona Volley – with a 19-point (three aces, two blocks) match high from Japan’s Yuji Nishida – intensified not only the race for avoiding relegation, but also the scuffle for the eighth place in the standings, which secures advancement to the quarterfinal playoffs.

As many as five teams are now squeezed within a three-point margin between the eighth place and the relegation zone – Kioene on 21 points and an 8-10 win-loss record, Verona on 21 and 8-11, Top Volley on 20 and 6-13, Gioiella on 20 and 6-14, and Tonno Callipo, who are still below the safety line, in the 12th position on 18 and 6-12.

The upcoming SuperLega programme offers four midweek matches – three postponed games from previous legs on Wednesday (Consar RCM Ravenna at Vero Volley Monza, Kioene Padua at Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, and Top Volley Cisterna at Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia) and a 24th-leg fixture between Allianz Milan and Leo Shoes PerkinElmer Modena moved forward to Thursday.

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