A spectacular five-set battle unfolded in front of 2,700 on the stands at the Eurosuole Forum on Sunday evening as Cucine Lube Civitanova edged Allianz Milan in the highlight of Italy’s SuperLega Credem Banca 15th leg of regular season action over the weekend, a head-to-head duel for the fourth place in the current standings. Middle blocker Barthelemy Chinenyeze, a reigning Olympic champion with France and a Tokyo 2020 Dream Teamer, was on fire to earn the MVP of the match award.
Superlega 2023
Chinenyeze shines as Lube edge Allianz in tight five-setter
A recap of Italian SuperLega’s 15th-leg matches
Published 08:18, 22 Jan 2024
Barthelemy Chinenyeze in attack
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Allianz came back from a two-set deficit to push the match to a tie-breaker, but the home team made the final push towards a victory, which also gave them a one-point advantage in the close race between the two teams in the table. Lube kept their fourth place, now with 27 points and a 10-5 win-loss record, while Allianz are fifth on 26 and 8-7.
To earn the Most Valuable Player nomination, Chinenyeze registered a 72% success rate in attack and produced two aces and two kill blocks to finish with 17 points for Lube, topped only by Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija with 21 points, including one ace. Outside hitter Mattia Bottolo, who first entered the court during the second set, also reached the double digits with 13 points, including three blocks. Japanese star Yuki Ishikawa led Allianz with 19 points, followed by Bulgarian legend Matey Kaziyski, who was not among the starters during the first two sets, with 14 points, including four aces, Belgian opposite Ferre Reggers with 13, and Argentinean middle Agustin Loser with 11.
“This game was so difficult! In the end, we put everything in and that's what counts,” Chinenyeze said after the match. “When we play with energy, confidence and determination, we manage to win. When it goes to a fifth set, the team that puts 200% in 15 points wins. We showed that if we play the way we know, the others have to be mindful, but we also have something to learn because we were 2-0 up and it took another three sets to win.”
“I think we put on a good show this evening. It's a shame we weren't able to win the tie-breaker, but I think we have to see the glass half-full after a match like this,” said Allianz’s libero Damiano Catania. “It wasn't really easy to come back from two sets down against Lube, who are a great team. Now we know that we still have to work to close this gap. We have two very important games to play next week.”
With this win, Lube also managed to shorten the distance to third-placed Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, who lost at home to defending champions Itas Trentino Trento in four sets. Outside Alessandro Michieletto and Luxembourgish opposite shared the top scorer honours with 18 points each towards Trentino’s victory. Daniele Lavia added another 10. Cuban-born Brazilian Yoandy Leal, who played in a SuperLega match for the first time since November, after recovering from a calf injury, led Gas Sales with 14 points. Opposite Yuri Romano added another 13, while Cuban middle Robertlandy Simon finished with 11. Trentino top the current standings on 40 points and 14-1, while the team from Piacenza is third on 32 and 10-5.
Second-placed Sir Susa Vim Perugia also improved to 37 and 12-3 after an emphatic sweep of their away game at Valsa Group Modena. In the only match on Saturday’s programme, the reigning club world champions hammered out a shutout, led by Ukrainian outside Oleh Plotnytskyi with 15 points, including four aces, Tunisian opposite Wassim Ben Tara with 14 points, and Polish outside Kamil Semeniuk with 11. Modena’s Russian opposite Maksim Sapozhkov also finished with 15 points. His team is in eighth place on 19 and 8-7.
Modena vs. Perugia | Highlights | Superlega | 15a Giornata
Seventh-placed Rana Verona, now on 23 and 8-7, widened the gap above Modena to four points after a home win over bottom-of-the-table Farmitalia Catania, now on 4 and 1-14. Iranian opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad led the winners with 19 points, including four aces, while Framitalia’s Austrian opposite Paul Buchegger produced a leg-high 29 points.
Canadian opposite Arthur Szwarc put away 22 points towards Mint Vero Volley Monza’s away victory over Gioiella Prisma Taranto. Vero Volley improved to 24 and 8-7 in sixth place, while the squad from Taranto are 11th on 11 and 2-23.
Taranto vs. Monza | Highlights | Superlega | 15a Giornata
The distance between ninth-placed Cisterna Volley and 10th-placed Pallavolo Padova Padua increased to five points after the head-to-head clash between the two teams that ended at in favour of the home team. French opposite Theo Faure hammered out a match-high 24 points, including four aces and two blocks, towards the victory. Cisterna improved to 16 and 5-10, leaving Padua with 11 and 4-11.
The 16th leg will offer midweek excitement with five games on Wednesday and one on Thursday, before the Coppa Italia Final Four showdown over the weekend.
SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 16th leg:
Jan 24, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Gioiella Prisma Taranto
Jan 24, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Cisterna Volley v Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza
Jan 24, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Mint Vero Volley Monza v Rana Verona
Jan 24, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Farmitalia Catania v Cucine Lube Civitanova
Jan 24, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Itas Trentino Trento v Allianz Milan
Jan 25, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Pallavolo Padova Padua v Valsa Group Modena
