The midweek action of the 16th leg in Italy’s SuperLega Credem Banca brought in an unusually high number of upsets. Powered by high-scoring strikers, as many as three teams – Rana Verona, Cisterna Volley and Pallavolo Padova Padua – achieved victories over opponents placed higher in the current standings.
Superlega 2023
Mozic, Faure, Gardini fire 24+ each towards SuperLega upsets
A recap of Italian SuperLega’s 16th-leg matches
Published 08:33, 26 Jan 2024
Rok Mozic and Donovan Dzavoronok celebrate a point against Vero Volley
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In one of the leg’s high-level clashes, Slovenian outside hitter Rok Mozic fired 25 points towards Rana Verona’s amazing 3-2 (23-25, 24-26, 25-23, 25-22, 15-11) comeback victory at Mint Vero Volley Monza on Wednesday. He registered a 53% success rate in attack, nailed four aces and raised a kill block to pile up his match-high tally and earn the MVP nomination. Malian opposite Noumory Keita added another 19 points, Czech outside Donovan Dzavoronok finished with 16, while Bulgarian middle Aleks Grozdanov impressed with six kill blocks towards a 13-point tally. On the other side of the net, Canadian opposite Arthur Szwarc led the scoring with 20 points, including two aces and three blocks, followed by compatriot Stephen Maar with 19 and Japanese outside Ran Takahashi with 13. Unfortunately, the latter suffered an ankle injury during the third set of the game.
With this result, the two teams switched their places in the table. Rana Verona are now sixth on 25 points and a 9-7 win-loss record, while Vero Volley are seventh, also on 25 points, but an 8-8 win-loss record.
Monza vs. Verona | Highlights | Superlega | 16a Giornata
In another interesting development on Wednesday, ninth-placed Cisterna Volley stunned third-placed Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-19) home victory. French opposite Theo Faure contributed a match-high 25 points, including three aces. Also with three aces to his name, Turkish outside Efe Bayram finished with 17 points and took the MVP award. Serbian outside Pavle Peric also reached the double digits with 14 points. Brazilian outside Ricardo Lucarelli scored 21 times for Gas Sales. His Cuban teammate in the middle, Robertandy Simon, put away 10 points. Cisterna improved to 19 and 6-10, catching up with eighth-placed Valsa Group Modena on points. Gas Sales are on 32 and 10-6.
“We achieved a second consecutive victory within a few days and we did it against an opponent who can count on players of the highest level,” Efe Bayram commented. “We grew during the match just as we have all been improving overall since the start of the championship, and this is very important for all of us. I'm happy for the MVP title, but I can say that we won by playing as a team.”
Cisterna vs. Piacenza | Highlights | Superlega | 16a Giornata
In the only game on Thursday’s programme, Pallavolo Padova delivered a 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 25-23) upset of their visitors from Valsa Group Modena. Outside Davide Gardini led the way with 24 points (59% success in attack, 1 block, 1 ace) and claimed the MVP honours. His 19-year-old cross-court teammate Luca Porro added another 16 points, while opposite Gabriel Garcia of the United States produced 13. Outsides Osmany Juantorena with 21 points and Uladzislau Davyskiba with 15 were the players who reached the double digits on Modena’s side. 10th-placed Padua improved to 14 and 5-11, while eighth-placed Modena are on 19 and 8-8.
“So much happiness this evening!” Gardini exclaimed. “It was a complicated match that we approached well. Modena raised their level of play. They put us under pressure with their serving, but in the end we took the match home. We were good at staying in the game in moments of difficulty, and when they pushed hard.”
Bottom-of-the-table rookies Farmitalia Catania were also close to dropping a sensational upset of 2023 silver medallists Cucine Lube Civitanova. The visitors had to come back from a set down twice during the match before they could celebrate a 3-2 (13-25, 25-14, 26-28, 25-15, 15-10) win and improve their record to 29 and 11-5 in fourth place. French middle Barthelemy Chinenyeze was the winners’ best scorer with 18 points, while Farmitalia’s Austrian opposite Paul Buchegger hammered out a match-high 27 points. The squad from Catania is 12th on 5 and 1-15.
Leaders Itas Trentino Trento and Sir Susa Vim Perugia widened the gap between them and the rest of the pack as they both celebrated straight-set home wins on Wednesday. Trentino (43, 15-1) mastered a 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-21) shutout of fifth-placed Allianz Milan (26, 8-8) with a 16-point match high from outside Alessandro Michieletto, while Sir (40, 13-3) achieved a 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-20) sweep of their game against 11th-placed Gioiella Prisma Taranto (11, 2-14) as Polish outside Kamil Semeniuk and Cuban opposite Jesus Herrera shared the top-scorer honours with 12 points apiece.
This weekend features the Final Four of the Del Monte Coppa Italia in Bologna. The next SuperLega leg is scheduled on the following weekend, February 3 and 4.
Del Monte Coppa Italia SuperLega 2024 Final Four:
Jan 27, 16:00 local (15:00 UTC): Itas Trentino Trento v Mint Vero Volley Monza
Jan 27, 18:30 local (17:30 UTC): Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Allianz Milan
Jan 28, 15:45 local (14:45 UTC): Final
SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 17th leg:
Feb 3, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Rana Verona v Pallavolo Padova Padua
Feb 3, 18:30 local (17:30 UTC): Allianz Milan v Farmitalia Catania
Feb 3, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Mint Vero Volley Monza v Itas Trentino Trento
Feb 4, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Cucine Lube Civitanova v Valsa Group Modena
Feb 4, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza v Sir Susa Vim Perugia
Feb 4, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Gioiella Prisma Taranto v Cisterna Volley
