Defending Italian SuperLega Credem Banca champions Sir Susa Vim Perugia continued their unbeaten run since the start of the new season. This time they handed table leaders Itas Trentino Trento their first defeat of the season and, with the other undefeated team, Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, also losing their first point, the Block Devils took over the top of the current standings.
Superlega 2024/25
Plotnytskyi merciless as Sir hand Trentino first SuperLega defeat
Recap of Italian SuperLega’s fifth-leg matches
Published 05:47, 28 Oct 2024
High-flying Oleh Plotnytskyi
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Sir’s Ukrainian standout Oleh Plotnytskyi celebrated a well-earned Most Valuable Player award as he contributed a match-high 28 points towards his team’s 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 26-24, 25-19) victory in the big clash between the club world champions and the club European champions, played on Sunday in Trento in front of a sell-out crowd of four thousand fans. The outside hitter put away four aces, three kill blocks and 21 spike points to top the charts of the match. Meanwhile, Tunisian opposite Wassim Ben Tara added another 21 points, including as many as six blocks and an ace. Japanese outside Yuki Ishikawa, who was not among Sir’s starters for the first set, entered the court and chipped in with 15 points to lift the team from Perugia to the top of the table on 14 points and a 5-0 win-loss record. It was the second time they defeated Trentino this fall, after September’s thrilling five-set final of the Supercoppa Italiana.
2023-2024 regular season winners Trentino suffered their first damage in the SuperLega this season and dropped to third place on 12 and 4-1. Their outsides Alessandro Michieletto and Daniele Lavia scored 18 and 12 points, respectively, against Sir, while opposite Gabriel Garcia of the United States added another 16.
“We bring home three points that are important even if we are still at the beginning of the championship,” commented Sir’s head coach Angelo Lorenzetti. “But it does not have a great technical value, first of all, because it was not the best Trento that we know it can be, and then, because we are without Simone Giannelli and this made our general approach to the match easier. It was objectively easier for us to play on a psychological level and on a technical level we slowly got the hang of things and of course we are happy.”
“I find this result difficult to digest, given our favourable and determined start,” said Trentino’s Slovenian middle blocker Jan Kozamernik. “We were determined to bring home a good result and instead, when their level increased significantly, especially in serving, we lacked a bit of discipline at the block and some more effective balls in counterattack. We should have been more careful in the decisive balls, especially at the end of the third and the fourth sets. However, I think that this match can be seen as a good point of reference from which we can draw several lessons to try to do better, especially when we play other matches of this difficulty.”
Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza also managed to stay unbeaten after their trip to Sonepar Padova Padua, but after having to come back from a set down twice during their match, they dropped their first point of the season, which kept them in second place on 14 and 5-0, but with lower set ratio than Sir. After losing at home to Gas Sales in a 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 23-25, 30-28, 15-11) rollercoaster, Padova are in sixth place on 7 and 2-3. Their outside Luca Porro and Serbian opposite Veljko Masulovic led the match scorers with 22 and 19 points, respectively, while sub-in opposite Alessandro Bovolenta and outside hitters Stephen Maar of Canada and Ramazan Efe Mandiraci of Turkiye scored 17 points apiece for the winners, with Maar picking up the MVP award.
Rana Verona and Cucine Lube Civitanova earned three-point victories to stay in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Verona delivered a 3-1 (17-25, 26-24, 25-22, 30-28) away win over Allianz Milan to improve to 11 and 4-1, pushing last season’s bronze medallists down to eighth place on 6 and 2-3. Malian outside Noumory Keita contributed as many as 31 points, including three aces. Canadian outside Eric Loeppky scored a match-high 14 points (including three blocks and an ace) towards Lube’s 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-19) sweep of their home match against bottom-of-the-table Cisterna Volley. Lube improved to 9 and 3-2, while Cisterna stand in 12th place on 1 and 0-5.
Valsa Group Modena hammered out a 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-16) shutout of their visitors from Mint Vero Volley Monza and made life even more difficult for last season’s silver medallists, who are still on 2 and 1-4 down in 10th place. Modena climbed one spot to seventh place on 6 and 2-3. Their Austrian opposite Paul Buchegger was the best scorer of the match with 17 points.
In Saturday’s only match, Gioiella Prisma Taranto managed a hard-fought 3-1 (25-14, 23-25, 25-17, 29-27) home win over rookies Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina, with a 25-point match high from opposite Fabrizio Gironi, to stay in ninth place on an improved record of 6 and 2-3. The SuperLega newcomers are 11th on 2 and 0-5.
Next weekend’s programme, with the matches of the sixth leg, will also offer one game on Saturday, November 2, and five on Sunday, November 3.
SuperLega Credem Banca 2024-2025 6th leg:
Nov 2, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Rana Verona v Valsa Group Modena
Nov 3, 16:00 local (15:00 UTC): Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza v Allianz Milan
Nov 3, 17:00 local (16:00 UTC): Mint Vero Volley Monza v Gioiella Prisma Taranto
Nov 3, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina v Itas Trentino Trento
Nov 3, 19:00 local (18:00 UTC): Cisterna Volley v Sonepar Padova Padua
Nov 3, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Cucine Lube Civitanova
