Reggers, Ishikawa and MVP Vitelli deliver first big upset in playoffs

The unpredictability of Italy’s SuperLega Credem Banca playoffs was proven right from the start as two of the four first-leg quarterfinal matches finished with upsets. And if the fifth beating the fourth is not that big of a surprise, sixth-placed Allianz Milan’s dramatic five-set win at third-placed Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza drew the most attention on Wednesday evening.

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With Belgian opposite Ferre Reggers spearheading the attack, middle blocker Marco Vitelli raising the walls and Japanese outside hitter Yuki Ishikawa firing from the serving line, Allianz Milan came back from a set down twice during their visit at Cucine Lube Civitanova to celebrate a 3-2 (20-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 15-10) victory and edge forward in the best-of-five quarterfinal series between the two teams.

20-year-old Ferre led the winners’ scorers with 18 points, including one ace. Ishikawa hammered three aces towards a 17-point tally, while Vitelly put up as many as six kill blocks to finish with 16 points and earn the Most Valuable Player nomination. On the home team’s side, opposite Yuri Romano produced a match-high 19 points, including three aces and two blocks. Brazilian outsides Ricardo Lucarelli and Yoandy Leal and Cuban middle Robertlandy Simon also tapped into the double digits, scoring 16, 15 and 13 points, respectively.

“We were very good at always staying close in the match,” said Allianz’s libero Damiano Catania. “They are a great team and the series will probably be long. We did well to take the 1-0 lead. We won thanks to resilience in the most difficult moment, covering many balls. We grew in the break phase and that was decisive.”

“We knew about the difficulties of this match. The series is long and we just have to be patient,” commented Gas Sales’ coach Andrea Anastasi. “Our numbers in this match are very similar to those of Milan. The regret is that we didn't close out some of the opportunities we had. The team never gave up and this is important. I repeat, the series is long and we need to be patient, recover mentally and get back to playing our volleyball.”

Mint Vero Volley Monza, who entered the quarterfinals as number five in the playoff bracket, also wiped off their opponents’ home-court advantage right from the start of their quarterfinal series against number four Cucine Lube Civitanova. Spearheaded by a fantastic Eric Loeppky, Vero Volley took home a 3-1 (28-26, 20-25, 25-11, 25-20) victory to gain the lead in this playoff. Spiking at a 60% success rate, the Canadian outside piled up a match-high 28 points, including two aces and a block, and claimed the MVP award. Another Canadian, opposite Arthur Szwarc, put away another 18 points for Vero Volley. Cuban outside Marlon Yant was Lube’s best scorer with 16 points. Another two outsides, Aleksandar Nikolov and Mattia Bottolo, who started for Lube in two sets each, finished with 12 points apiece as the Italian impressed with four aces.

“It was truly a very tough match, with many long rallies. We slowed down for a moment in the second set, but we did well to immediately get back into the swing of things in the third set without ever giving up,” commented MVP Loeppky.

Seventh-placed Rana Verona also surprised their hosts, second-placed Sir Susa Vim Perugia, in the first set of their game, but the reigning club world champions swiftly got back in the game, dominating the next three sets to snatch a 3-1 (23-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-19) victory. Polish outside Kamil Semeniuk aced three times towards a match-high 24 points. Tunisian opposite Wassim Ben Tara spiked at a 67% success rate and raised three kill blocks to pile up 18 points and get the MVP nomination. Middle Roberto Russo (four aces, two kill blocks) and sub-in outside Oleh Plotnytskyi added 15 and 12 points towards Sir’s success, respectively. Verona’s Iranian opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad delivered 23 points, including three aces and two blocks.

Despite playing without their star setter Riccardo Sbertoli, who underwent surgery, defending champions and regular season winners Itas Trentino Trento allowed for no surprises in their playoff’s opening game against eighth-placed Valsa Group Modena and mastered a 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-18) shutout. With three aces and a kill block towards a 15-point tally, Luxembourgish opposite Kamil Rychlicki was Trentino’s best scorer, followed by outsides Alessandro Michieletto with 14 points and Daniele Lavia with 13. The latter was named MVP of the match. Slovenian middle Jan Kozamernik also reached the double digits with 10 points, while Modena’s Belarusian opposite Uladzislau Davyskiba topped the charts with 20 points.

The second leg of the best-of-five quarterfinal playoffs will be played on Sunday.

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 quarterfinals – 2nd leg:
Mar 10, 16:00 local (15:00 UTC): Valsa Group Modena v Itas Trentino Trento
Mar 10, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Mint Vero Volley Monza v Cucine Lube Civitanova
Mar 10, 19:00 local (18:00 UTC): Allianz Milan v Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza
Mar 10, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Rana Verona v Sir Susa Vim Perugia

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024: full schedule and results

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