Verona’s Noumory Keita on the block against Piacenza’s Yuri Romano (source: legavolley.it)

Verona’s Noumory Keita on the block against Piacenza’s Yuri Romano (source: legavolley.it)

Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza and WithU Verona played the longest tie-breaker set in the history of the Italian men’s league since the introduction of the rally-point system. Last Sunday in a SuperLega Credem Banca opening weekend fixture in Piacenza, Verona took the upper hand with a 3-2 (25-20, 23-25, 23-25, 25-20, 24-22) victory over the hosts. Pushed deep into overtime, the fifth set lasted as many 36 minutes.

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As confirmed by the league, that tie-breaker was a minute longer than the previous record of 35 minutes, established earlier this year, on April 4, at the very same Pala Banca competition venue in Piacenza, when the home team emerged with a 24-22 fifth set win over Itas Trentino Trento in a quarterfinal playoff game.

The third longest tie-break was also recorded last season and also by Verona, when they defeated Allianz Milano at home after a 33-minute fifth set that finished 23-21 on February 5.

In addition to the game getting more and more competitive, this recent surge of record-breaking sets is also attributed to the introduction of the video challenge system.

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Before the rally-point system replaced the old side-out scoring system in 1999, the record was 53 minutes. It was registered in the fifth set of a 1976 match between Federlazio Roma and Dermatrophine PD, which the home team from Rome won by 15-12. In 1979, the tie-breaker between Edilcuoghi Sassuolo and Tiber Toshiba Roma was pushed to a final score of 22-20 and lasted 47 minutes.