Civitanova to challenge Perugia for Supercoppa gold

Cucine Lube Civitanova and Sir Susa Vim Perugia are one win away from their first title in the 2023-2024 club season as the two sides will play for gold in the 28^th edition of the Del Monte Supercoppa Italiana on Wednesday, in Biella.

Civitanova and defending champions Perugia overcame Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza and Itas Trentino respectively in Tuesday’s semifinals and will now battle for the title on Wednesday, at 17:00 local time (16:00 GMT), in a rematch of last year’s final.

• Watch Del Monte Supercoppa Italiana live and on demand on VBTV.

The two finalists will be fighting for their fifth Supercoppa title as Civitanova triumphed in 2006-2007, 2008-2009, 2012-2013 and 2014-2015 while Perugia lifted the trophy in 2017-2018, 2019-2020, 2020-2021 and 2022-2023.

Three of Perugia’s titles (2017-2018, 2020-2021 and 2022-2023) were earned with victories over Civitanova in the final and the Block Devils have also triumphed in four of the last five duels between the teams.

Civitanova, who started the SuperLega Credem Banca with a loss ten days ago, seem to be finding their form as they had a dominant performance against Piacenza in the second semifinal, securing a 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-18) triumph to advance.

Bulgarian star outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov was the main offensive force for Civitanova in the encounter, producing a match-high 17 points, with 14 kills, two aces and one block. Italian outside hitter Ivan Zaytsev and Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija contributed nine points each.

“Piacenza have some extraordinary players and we're happy to have beaten them in three sets,” Nikolov remarked. “I don't keep track of my stats, but I know it was an excellent team performance, which is the most important. We'll enter the court tomorrow determined to take the title.”

Cuban star middle blocker Robertlandy Simon was Piacenza’s main scorer with 13 points (nine kills, three aces, one block).

Ben Tara shines in Perugia’s comeback

In the first semifinal, Perugia recovered from a difficult start to come back and beat reigning Italian champions Trentino 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-18) and advance to the final for the fifth time in the last seven seasons.

A new signing for the 2023-2024 season, Tunisian opposite Wassin Ben Tara had his best performance in a Perugia uniform to date, producing a match-high 23 points (20 kills, two blocks, one ace).

“It was a very important match, with a spot in the Supercoppa final on the line and we’re happy to have won it,” Ben Tara reacted. “Trentino started the match very well and built a great lead, we tried to come back but didn’t make it. But we reacted in the second set, got into a good rhythm and gave our first step in the tournament. Now it’s the final and we’ll give everything we have.”

Other standouts in the winning side were Ukrainian outside hitter Oleh Plotnytskyi, who added 15 points, and Polish superstar Wilfredo Leon, who fired four of the team’s eight aces in his nine-point performance.

Despite the loss, Trentino had four players reaching double digits in scoring in opposite Kamil Rychlicki (16), outside hitters Alessandro Michieletto (13) and Daniele Lavia (13) and middle blocker Jan Kozamernik (ten).

Quick links:
*Del Monte Supercoppa Italiana
Lega Pallavolo SuperLega Credem Banca
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