Table leaders Sir Susa Vim Perugia and second-placed Itas Trentino Trento broke away on top of the Italian SuperLega Credem Banca. After Trentino handed third-placed Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza their second defeat of the season, the gap between them in the current standings widened to four points.
Superlega 2024/25
Sir and Trentino break away on top of SuperLega
Recap of Italian SuperLega’s eighth-leg matches
Published 06:45, 18 Nov 2024
Trentino’s playmaker and MVP Riccardo Sbertoli in action
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In Sunday’s opening match, Trentino produced a 3-1 (25-18, 25-22, 22-25, 25-22) away win over Gas Sales and improved to 21 points and a 7-1 win-loss record, leaving their opponents on 17 and 6-2. Outside hitter Daniele Lavia led the winners with 13 points, including three kill blocks. His cross-court teammate Alessandro Michieletto added another 12, including three aces. Luxembourgish opposite Kamil Rychlicki also finished with 12 points, while the Most Valuable Player nomination went to setter Riccardo Sbertoli. Gas Sales’ Turkish outside Ramazan Efe Mandiraci was the best scorer of the match with 14 points.
“We got three important points away. They count a lot for morale too. In my opinion, we played a good game today, at a packed arena that really pumped up the home team,” said Trentino’s Brazilian middle blocker Flavio Gualberto. “It was one of our best performances of the season. We did well in all the fundamentals.”
“I am only disappointed by the many bad serves. 30 in one match is something I had perhaps never seen before,” commented Gas Sales’ head coach Andrea Anastasi. “Despite everything I am not worried because I saw a good reaction from the team even in the first set, in which we started very badly. Looking at the statistics, we scored important numbers. Only the serve did not work.”
In Saturday’s opening match, the only undefeated team since the start of the season, defending champions Sir, added an expected home victory to their tally, a 3-0 (25-8, 25-17, 25-17) shutout of bottom-placed newcomers Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina, to improve to 22 and 8-0 on top of the table. The team from Grottazzolina trail in 12th place on 2 and 0-8. Sir’s Japanese outside Yuki Ishikawa was the best scorer of the match with 18 points.
Meanwhile, fourth-placed Cucine Lube Civitanova narrowed the distance to Gas Sales to just one point. Led by Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija with 17 points, including six of the team’s 16 aces in the match, they hammered out a 3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-20) shutout of visiting Valsa Group Modena. Modena are still eighth, on 9 and 3-5, while Lube are now on 16 and 5-3.
Not far behind, in fifth place on 15 and 5-4, are Allianz Milan. Last season’s bronze medallists mastered a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 27-25) sweep of their away match at seventh-placed Sonepar Padova Padua, leaving the opponents on 10 and 3-5. French outside Yacine Louati and Belgian opposite Ferre Reggers led Allianz with 15 points apiece, while Padova’s Serbian opposite Veljko Masulovic put away a match-high 16 points.
The squad from Milan surpassed Rana Verona in the standings after Malian scoring machine Noumory Keita and his teammates conceded their third consecutive loss to drop to sixth place on 12 and 4-4. Star opposite Ivan Zaytsev led Mint Vero Volley Monza to a 3-1 (27-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-22) home victory over Verona with 17 points, including five kill blocks, while Keita topped the weekend charts with 29 points. The win helped last season’s silver medallists climb to 10th-place on 7 and 3-5, overtaking Gioiella Prisma Taranto in the standings.
Prisma are now second from the bottom on 7 and 2-6 after being surpassed by Cisterna Volley as well. The two teams met in Cisterna di Latina on Saturday and the home side delivered a 3-0 (25-16, 26-24, 25-20) victory, spearheaded by French opposite Theo Faure with 17 points, to rise to ninth place on 9 and 3-6, outside the playoff zone just on set ratio. Prisma’s opposite Fabrizio Gironi was the top scorer of the match with 23 points.
Next SuperLega weekend will offer the ninth-leg matches on its programme - one on Saturday, November 23, and five on Sunday, November 24.
SuperLega Credem Banca 2024-2025 9th leg:
Nov 23, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina v Cisterna Volley
Nov 24, 17:00 local (16:00 UTC): Itas Trentino Trento v Mint Vero Volley Monza
Nov 24, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Allianz Milan v Sir Susa Vim Perugia
Nov 24, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Gioiella Prisma Taranto v Cucine Lube Civitanova
Nov 24, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Valsa Group Modena v Sonepar Padova Padua
Nov 24, 19:00 local (18:00 UTC): Rana Verona v Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza
