Kamil and Kamil power Sir and Trentino to important victories

Two Kamils proved key to their teams’ important SuperLega Credem Banca victories on Sunday. Kamil Rychlicki was on fire as defending champions Itas Trentino Trento added a sixth victory to their winning run since the start of the season, a home four-setter against Mint Vero Volley Monza, while Kamil Semeniuk led Sir Susa Vim Perugia in a successful five-set comeback at home against Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza. In another big clash, Cucine Lube Civitanova mastered an away shutout of Valsa Group Modena.

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Current table leaders Trentino made sure they stayed undefeated this season with a 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-23) home win over fourth-placed Vero Volley. Luxembourgish opposite Rychlicki spiked at an impressive success rate of 72% and added an ace and a kill block to produce a match-high 23 points towards the victory, earning the Most Valuable Player nomination. He even registered 100% perfection in reception in the two cases when he had to process the opponents’ serves. Outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto put away another 22 points, including two blocks and an ace, while his Canadian counterpart Stephen Maar led the visiting team with 16 points, including three blocks. Trentino improved to a 6-0 win-loss record and 16 points, and Vero Volley stayed fourth on 4-2 and 12.

“Bringing home the three points was very important, especially because Monza are playing the best volleyball in the championship at the moment and today they proved it,” Rychlicki commented after the game. “Fortunately, we managed to maintain a high level in the final part of each set, even if we lacked consistency in other phases of the match. We have shown that we have a lot of character. In my opinion it was the element that made the difference as it gave us something extra, like an encouraging boost which, after the first set, we were fortunately able to find again."

Second-placed Sir and third-placed Gas Sales put up a nail-biting five-set battle, in which the home side mounted a furious comeback from two sets down to persevere through an extended tie-breaker and celebrate a 3-2 (21-25, 20-25, 25-18, 26-24, 20-18) victory. Polish outside Kamil Semeniuk led the winners’ scoring with two aces, one kill block and 15 successful spikes. Another four players reached the double digits on Sir’s side: Cuban opposite Jesus Herrera scored 14 times, Ukrainian outside Oleh Plotnytskyi put away 14 points, Argentinean middle blocker Sebastian Sole produced 11 points, including four stuffs, and earned the MVP award, and his cross-court teammate Flavio Gualberto of Brazil added 10 points. Gas Sales’ Brazilian outside Yoandy Leal delivered the match high of 25 points. Opposite Fabrizio Gironi and Cuban middle Robertlandy Simon added 19 and 15 points, respectively. The two teams kept their places in the standings, but the gap between them widened to two points. The team from Perugia is on 5-1 and 15, while their opponents from Piacenza are on 4-2 and 13.

“We made a good comeback with patience and quality and won a match that was truly very difficult,” said Sole. “However, beyond the victory which hides the situation a bit, there are many small things to fix.”

After meeting each other on Sunday, fifth-placed Lube and sixth-placed Modena also kept their spots in the table, but the gap between them was extended to four points. Lube improved to 4-2 and 11, while Valsa Group stayed on 3-3 and 7. With Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija leading the way with 17 points and Bulgarian outside Aleksandar Nikolov adding another 14, the squad from Civitanova mastered a 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-20) away victory despite a solid 21-point match high by Belarusian opposite Uladzislau Davyskiba, including three aces and two kill blocks, for the home team. The MVP recognition went to Lube’s libero Fabio Balaso.

“I always give my all for my team and this evening went well,” Balaso said. “It doesn't often happen that the MVP award goes to the libero, but the team's performance is to be praised. Now we have to find continuity of play and improve the mentality. If we manage to maintain this level throughout the year we can annoy many opposing teams. We needed a victory like this. Now we can calmly think about the next commitments."

Winless Gioiella Prisma Taranto got close to an away upset of Cisterna Volley, but the home team managed to come back from two sets down and achieve a 3-2 (25-27, 20-25, 25-18, 25-13, 17-15) victory, improving to 2-4 and 7 in eighth place. French opposite Theo Faure was the best scorer of the match with 19 points for Cisterna.

Also on 2-4 and 7, Allianz Milan are 10th after celebrating a 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-21) away win at Farmitalia Catania, leaving the opponents in 11^th place on 1-5 and 3. Cuban outside Osniel Mergarejo and Belgian opposite Ferre Reggers led the winners with 17 points apiece, while Farmitalia’s Austrian striker Paul Buchegger topped the charts with 28 points, including four aces.

In the only game played on Saturday, another Belgian, outside hitter Mathijs Desmet, scored a match-high 23 points, including three aces, towards Pallavolo Padova Padua’s 3-1 (25-17, 13-25, 25-20, 25-23) home victory over Rana Verona. Padova rose to seventh place on 3-3 and 7, separated from Modena on point ratio only, while Rana Verona are ninth on 2-4 and 7.

SuperLega action resumes on Wednesday with an advanced ninth-leg game between Sir and Padova, and continues with the six seventh-leg matches on Saturday and Sunday.

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 advanced 9th leg fixture: 
Nov 22, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Pallavolo Padova Padua

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 7th leg schedule:
Nov 25, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Cisterna Volley v Valsa Group Modena
Nov 26, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Itas Trentino Trento v Farmitalia Catania
Nov 26, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Rana Verona v Sir Susa Vim Perugia
Nov 26, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Cucine Lube Civitanova v Gioiella Prisma Taranto
Nov 26, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Allianz Milan v Pallavolo Padova Padua
Nov 26, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Mint Vero Volley Monza v Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024: full schedule and results

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