Remake of exciting SuperLega final coming up on Sunday

Remember the thrills of last season’s five-match Italian men’s championship series? For more of that, tune in on Sunday, when another encounter between finalists Cucine Lube Civitanova and Itas Trentino Trento is on offer as the eighth leg of the 2023-2024 SuperLega Credem Banca regular season unfolds.

• Watch Italy’s SuperLega Credem Banca live and on demand on VBTV.

Defending champions Trentino will visit runners-up Lube at the Eurosuole Forum on December 3 at 18:00 local time (17:00 UTC) as the two sides meet for the first time since their memorable final in May. Trentino are still undefeated in seven matches played this season and are placed second in the current standings on 19 points, two points below reigning club world champions Sir Susa Vim Perugia, who have, however, played eight games, winning seven of them. Lube, on the other hand, are in fifth place on 5-2 and 13. They are riding the wave of a five-game winning streak between the SuperLega and the CEV Champions League.

On Thursday, three days before their meeting with Trentino, the squad from Civitanova hammered out a straight-set Champions League away victory over Czechia’s Lvi Prague, with Cuban outside hitter Marlon Yant and Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija leading the way with 16 points apiece. French star middle blocker Barthelemy Chinenyeze raised three kill blocks to finish with nine points, while Argentinean playmaker Luciano De Cecco grabbed the Most Valuable Player award. Trentino played their Champions League match this week a day earlier, on Wednesday, and produced a four-set win at France’s Tours, where talented outside Alessandro Michieletto topped the charts with four aces and five kill blocks towards the 20-point match high and earned the MVP award, supported by Luxembourgish opposite Kamil Rychlicki with 12 points, Slovenian middle Jan Kozamernik with 11 and Italian outside Daniele Lavia with 10. Both Lube and Trentino lead their Champions League pools undefeated after two legs of play.

The two teams have a long history of head-to-head clashes. They have met as many as 95 times, with Lube leading the series by 53 to 42. Last season alone, they played each other seven times and, while exchanging away wins during the regular season, the home team always celebrated victorious in all five matches of the championship series.

This time, the eighth-leg matches are spread over three days, from Saturday through Monday. A Japanese clash between Ryujin Nippon star teammates Ran Takahashi and Yuki Ishikawa will spark extra excitement as Mint Vero Volley Monza and Allianz Milan close the programme on Monday at 20:00 (19:00). Vero Volley are currently third in the table on 5-2 and 14, while Allianz are in seventh place on 3-4 and 10.

These two teams also had continental matches this week. Having shut out Decospan Menen the previous week at home, Allianz produced a five-set victory in the return game on Wednesday in Belgium to advance to the next round of the CEV Cup, before preparing for another trip to neighbouring Monza. Rising Belgian star Ferre Reggers stunned his compatriots with a match-high 27 points, including five aces for the team from Milan. Also on Wednesday, Vero Volley built on the previous week’s five-set away win at Portugal’s Sporting CP Lisbon with a straight-set victory at home to advance in the Challenge Cup competition. Canadians Eric Loeppky and Arthur Szwarc topped the scorers’ chart of the match with 20 and 19 points, respectively. Neither Ishikawa, nor Takahashi appeared in play in their teams’ European matches this week and should be well rested for the game on Monday.

In Saturday’s SuperLega matches, table leaders Sir Susa Vim Perugia (7-1, 21) host ninth-placed Cisterna Volley (2-5, 7) at 20:30 (19:30), after winless Gioiella Prisma Taranto (0-7, 4) welcome sixth-placed Valsa Group Modena (4-3, 10) in the weekend opener at 18:00 (17:00).

Sunday’s programme also includes matches between eighth-placed Pallavolo Padova Padua (3-5, 7) and bottom-of-the-table rookies Farmitalia Catania (1-6, 3) at 18:00 (17:00), and between fourth-placed Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza (4-3, 7) and 10^th-placed Rana Verona (2-5, 7) at 20:30 (19:30).

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 8th leg schedule:
Dec 2, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Gioiella Prisma Taranto v Valsa Group Modena
Dec 2, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Cisterna Volley
Dec 3, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Pallavolo Padova Padua v Farmitalia Catania
Dec 3, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Cucine Lube Civitanova v Itas Trentino Trento
Dec 3, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza v Rana Verona
Dec 4, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Mint Vero Volley Monza v Allianz Milan

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024: full schedule and results

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