Romano powers Gas Sales in win over Modena

Yuri Romano was the best scorer not only of Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza’s home game against Valsa Group Modena, but also of the entire third leg of the fifth-place playoffs round-robin phase in Italy’s SuperLega Credem Banca on Wednesday evening. The opposite led his team to their third win to stay unbeaten on top of the current standings. With two legs to go, however, all four spots in the semifinals are still up for grabs.

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

Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza’s 3-1 (25-15, 20-25, 25-16, 25-23) home victory over Valsa Group Modena improved the team’s record to 8 points and a 3-0 win-loss, which is not enough to reserve a spot among the semifinalists just yet. Meanwhile, Modena, who are bottom of the table, in sixth place on 2 and 1-2, are still well in contention for the top four spots in the final round-robin standings. Yuri Romano contributed a match-high 20 points towards the win. He registered two kill blocks, an ace and a 61% success rate in attack to earn the Most Valuable Player award. Brazilian outside hitter Ricardo Lucarelli chipped in another 14 points, including five blocks, while middle blocker Fabio Ricci spiked at an 88% success rate and reached the double digits with 10 points. Russian opposite Maksim Sapozhkov and Belarusian outside Uladzislau Davyskiba led Modena’s scorers with 15 and 14 points, respectively.

Rana Verona also managed to hold on to their second place in the table after an impressive 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-17) shutout of their hosts Cucine Lube Civitanova to spoil Romano Giannini’s debut as Lube’s head coach. Verona are now the only team with two wins, standing second on 7 and 2-1, while Lube dropped to fifth on 3 and 1-2. Iranian opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad led the way with 17 points, including two aces and a block, to earn the MVP nomination. Malian outside Noumory Keita added another 16 points, including four blocks. Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija was Lube’s best scorer with 14 points.

Cisterna Volley scored their first win of the fifth-place playoffs, a 3-1 (19-25, 25-14, 25-21, 25-19) comeback against Pallavolo Padova Padua at home, but it was enough to propel the team up the standings to third place on 4 and 1-2, just above Padova, who are fourth on 3 and 1-2, and better set ratio than Lube. Cisterna’s French opposite Theo Faure was the best scorer of the match with 19 points, including three aces and three blocks. Turkish outside Efe Bayram also reached the double digits with 10 points, while the MVP recognition went to libero Alessandro Finauri. Opposite Tommaso Guzzo and outside Davide Gardini were Padova’s most prolific players with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

The fourth leg of matches will be played on Saturday and Sunday, April 13 and 14.

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 semifinal playoffs – 4th leg:
Apr 11, 20:30 local (18:30 UTC): Mint Vero Volley Monza v Itas Trentino Trento
Apr 11, 20:30 local (18:30 UTC): Allianz Milan v Sir Susa Vim Perugia

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 fifth-place playoffs – 4th leg:
Apr 13, 20:30 local (18:30 UTC): Rana Verona v Valsa Group Modena
Apr 14, 17:00 local (15:00 UTC): Pallavolo Padova Padua v Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza
Apr 14, 18:00 local (16:00 UTC): Cucine Lube Civitanova v Cisterna Volley

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024: full schedule and results

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