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D'Heer has stepped up to produce strong performances for Trentino

Itas Trentino will have their first of potentially two opportunities to secure the title of the 2022-2023 SuperLega Credem Banca on Friday, when they face Cucine Lube Civitanova for the fourth time in the Italian League Finals.

Currently leading the defending champions 2-1 in their best-of-five series, the 2022 FIVB Men’s Club World Championship silver medallists will claim the Scudetto if they prevail again in their 20:30 local time (18:30 UTC) encounter, which is set to take place in Civitanova Marché.

· Watch all SuperLega Credem Banca matches live or on demand on VBTV.

Back in the Italian League Finals for the first time since 2016-2017, Trentino are close to ending Lube’s run of three-straight titles. To do that, they will need to top their opponents on the road, repeating what they did in January, during the regular season.

Trentino will have to do it without Serbian middle blocker Srecko Lisinac, who underwent surgery to deal with a back injury sustained during the series. Belgian Wout D’Heer, who’s been replacing him in the last two matches, is ready for another battle, but says Trentino are determined to return home with the Scudetto.

“Lube have shown in the playoffs that they’re a team that doesn’t give up and I’m sure they will give everything they have to win and take the series back to Trento,” D’Heer said. “It’s going to be a packed stadium, it’s their last home match of the season and they will want to show their best game, but we’re going to Civitanova Marché with the goal of ending the series. I think our performance there on match two (when they lost 3-2) showed we’re capable of doing it.”

Lube will also likely have a significant absence to deal with after star opposite Ivan Zaytsev left Sunday’s match with a shoulder injury. After being evaluated during the week, the Italian has little hope of getting on the court on Friday.

With or without him, however, Lube have no other option than winning the match and pushing the decision to a fifth and decisive duel. The defending champions will have a sold-out Eurosuole Forum behind them and know they will need to enter the court with a different mentality than the one they showed on Sunday, when they fell to Trentino in straight sets.

“It’s a pity to lose Zatysev now because we had found a good balance with him helping in serve-receive,” middle blocker Enrico Diamantini commented. “But we’re a capable team and I’m sure we can play at a very high level even without him. What we can’t do right now is to give up. We’ve fought until the end in the quarterfinals and the semifinals and we need to do it again now. It’s the SuperLega Final, we can’t stop.”

Quick links:
Lega Pallavolo SuperLega Credem Banca
Lega Pallavolo Femminile Serie A1
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