Rana Verona continued their rise in Italy’s SuperLega Credem Banca and registered their fifth consecutive victory, this time convincingly shutting out Valsa Group Modena away at the PalaPanini with opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad spearheading the visiting team, and overtook the opponents in the current standings. In another interesting development during the weekend’s 13th leg of the SuperLega regular season, Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza got back at Allianz Milan for the 3-2 defeat in a Del Monte Coppa Italia quarterfinal earlier in the week and outplayed them in another five-set saga.
Superlega 2023
Amin powers Verona to emphatic sweep in Modena
A recap of Italian SuperLega’s 13th-leg matches
Published 08:04, 08 Jan 2024
Triumphant Amin Esmaeilnezhad
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Amin earned the Most Valuable Player recognition in Rana Verona’s 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-13) sweep of their visit to Modena on Sunday. The Iranian international produced a match-high 18 points. He spiked at a 61% success rate and put away one serving ace towards his team’s success. The two outside hitters, Czechia’s Donovan Dzavoronok (two aces, two kill blocks) and Slovenia’s Rok Mozic (three kill blocks) finished with 10 points each. Russian opposite Maksim Sapozkov was Modena’s leading scorer with 17 points, including two aces.
This win placed Verona above Modena in the table. Coach Radostin Stoytchev’s squad is now seventh on 20 points and a 7-6 win-loss record, below sixth-placed Mint Vero Volley Monza only on set ratio. Modena, on the other hand, for whom the loss was third in a row in the SuperLega, dropped to eighth on 17 and 7-6.
Modena vs. Verona | Highlights | Superlega | 13a Giornata
On Saturday, Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza and Allianz Milan engaged in a second tie-breaker battle with each other within the same week, but this time it was the home team that celebrated a 3-2 (25-23, 21-25, 19-25, 25-19, 15-13) victory despite trailing by three points in the deciding set. The team from Piacenza improved to 29 and 9-4 in third place. The club from Milan is fifth on 22 and 7-6.
Gas Sales’ outside Francesco Recine and Allianz’s Croatian opposite Petar Dirlic shared the top scorer honours of the match with 22 points apiece. Recine registered a 64% success rate in attack and hammered one ace towards the win, while Dirlic had three kill blocks in his tally.
Gas Sales’ Brazilian outside Ricardo Lucarelli put away 19 points. Cuban middle blocker Robertlandy Simon, who was named MVP, added another 14, while opposite Fabrizio Gironi finished with 13. Another three players reached the double digits on the visitors’ side: Cuban outside Osniel Mergarejo with 13, Argentinean middle Agustin Loser with 12 and Bulgarian outside Matey Kaziyski with 11.
“It was another marathon match! We are happy to have won, but this victory still cannot erase the bitterness of Wednesday's defeat in Coppa Italia. It's never easy to win against Milan. We did it, we showed character and we have to be happy,” Lucarelli commented. “I am happy with the affection the fans have shown me. I feel good here in Piacenza, in this club and with these teammates, but I still have to decide my future. I will make the decision in a few days.”
Piacenza vs. Milano | Highlights | Superlega | 13a Giornata
Sir Susa Vim Perugia mastered a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-21) home win over Mint Vero Volley Monza to consolidate their second place on 31 and 10-3. Their opponents stayed in sixth place on 20 and 7-6. Ukrainian outside Oleh Plotnytskyi was the best scorer of the match with 16 points for the reigning club world champions, while his Polish cross-court teammate Kamil Semeniuk and Vero Volley’s Canadian outside Stephen Maar finished with 14 points each.
Defending champions and table leaders Itas Trentino Trento cruised to a straight-set victory at Gioiella Prisma Taranto with Luxembourgish opposite Kamil Rychlicki leading the way to a 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-20) shutout with 14 points to his name. Trentino improved to 34 and 12-1, while the Taranto team stayed in 11th place on 9 and 1-12.
Fourth-placed Cucine Lube Civitanova widened the distance from fifth-placed Allianz after a 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-23) home win over Pallavolo Padova Padua with a 17-point match high from Bulgarian outside Aleksandar Nikolov. Lube upped their record to 25 and 9-4, while Padova descended to 10th place on 10 and 4-9.
They were overtaken by Cisterna Volley, who managed a 3-1 (25-21, 25-18, 22-25, 25-22) home victory over Farmitalia Catania to improve to 13 and 4-9 and rise to ninth place. Farmitalia are bottom of the table on 4 and 1-12. French opposite Theo Faure was the best scorer of that game with 21 points towards Cisterna’s success.
SuperLega action will resume with the 14th-leg matches, all six of which will be played on Sunday, January 14.
SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 14th leg:
Jan 14, 16:00 local (15:00 UTC): Farmitalia Catania v Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza
Jan 14, 17:00 local (16:00 UTC): Pallavolo Padova Padua v Gioiella Prisma Taranto
Jan 14, 17:00 local (16:00 UTC): Allianz Milan v Cisterna Volley
Jan 14, 17:45 local (16:45 UTC): Mint Vero Volley Monza v Valsa Group Modena
Jan 14, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Cucine Lube Civitanova
Jan 14, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Itas Trentino Trento v Rana Verona
