Superlega 2024/25 - News.

Superlega 2024/25

SuperLega leaders Sir and Gas Sales face tough challenges at home

Watch the sixth leg of Italian SuperLega matches live on VBTV

Published 08:01, 02 Nov 2024

Sir’s Argentinean star middle blocker Loser in attack (source: legavolley.it)

Sir’s Argentinean star middle blocker Loser in attack

The two undefeated leaders of the current standings in the Italian men’s SuperLega Credem Banca will try to stay that way and please their fans with home victories this weekend as the six matches of the sixth leg unfold, but both Sir Susa Vim Perugia and Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza will have to face tough challenges from strong visitors, Cucine Lube Civitanova and Allianz Milan, respectively.

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Reigning club world champions, defending Italian champions and current table leaders Sir Susa Vim Perugia will try to build on their important success at Itas Trentino Trento last week, which helped them take over the top of the standings on 14 points and a 5-0 win-loss record. On Sunday, November 3, at 20:30 local time (19:30 UTC), the Block Devils will close the sixth leg of regular season competition with a home game against another ex-champion, Cucine Lube Civitanova. Lube’s new line-up is still struggling to pick up full speed and currently occupy fifth place on 9 and 3-2, but the trip to Perugia presents a great opportunity to step on the gas.

The 66th encounter between the two clubs is certainly set to offer another stellar clash with the likes of Yuki Ishikawa, Oleh Plotnytskyi, Agustin Loser, Roberto Russo, Massimo Colaci, Wassim Ben Tara and many others on the home side of the net, and Marko Podrascanin, Barthelemy Chinenyeze, Adis Lagumdzija, Eric Loeppky and quite possibly a fully recovered Aleksandar Nikolov over on the other half of the court. The historic head-to-head record from the previous 65 meetings is impressively balanced. Sir lead 33-32 in wins, while Lube lead 130-129 in sets and 5,831-5,830 in points. They met twice last regular season. Lube won in five sets at home, but then lost in straight sets in Perugia.

“It will be a very delicate match, even if it is not the match that decides the season. Lube are a team with talent, a very young team, yes, but perhaps not as young as they say. In Trento, I said that it would be easier for us to play that match than for them, but here it is exactly the opposite: it will be much easier to prepare this match for them than for us.” Angelo Lorenzetti, head coach of Sir Susa Vim Perugia
“The Lube team is young, but talented and has international experience. The prospects are good even though we have a lot of work to do. Now we are focused on the away match in Perugia. I believe that Sir is the strongest team in Europe and the favourite team, together with Itas Trentino, to win the championship. We will go to Pala Barton to play with a good load of confidence. So far we have been impeccable at home with 9 points, but we need a step forward in the away games. Taking points on the most difficult court in the SuperLega would give us good momentum.” Marco Podrascanin, middle blocker of Cucine Lube Civitanova

Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza have also collected 14 points and five wins in five matches so far, and are second to Sir only on set ratio, having lost one set more than the team from Perugia. To stay undefeated, now Antoine Brizard, Robertlandy Simon, Uros Kovacevic, Yuri Romano, Stephen Maar and the rest of Gas Sales’ stellar squad will have to deal with a tough challenge at home as they face last season’s bronze medallists Allianz Milan at the Pala Banca Sport in Sunday’s opening game, starting at 16:00 (15:00). The team around Matey Kaziyski, Ferre Reggers and Yacine Louati has been struggling to find its rhythm this season and arrive in Piacenza standing eighth in the table on 6 and 2-3, certainly below the expectations, but with full potential to recover and at least match last season’s showing.

Gas Sales lead the overall head-to-head record by 13-7 in wins. However, last season alone, the two clubs met as many as eight times, splitting four wins each, but Allianz won the most important clashes beating the opponents in a Coppa Italia quarterfinal and three times in a five-match SuperLega quarterfinal playoff.

“Confirmations and continued growth to make that leap in quality needed to stay high in the standings - this is what I would like to see in the match against Milan, a difficult match as Milan are a strong and balanced team, difficult to face because they are very determined and good at always staying in the game, they defend a lot and do not hand anything to their opponents.” Andrea Anastasi, head coach of Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza
“It will be a difficult match against Piacenza. They have never lost in the league and are top of the table with Perugia. We want to redeem ourselves after the home defeat against Verona, in which we were not clinical enough in the important moments. We will have to start aggressively from the beginning, always stay attached to the game, be united in difficult moments and be effective in decisive moments.” Nicola Zonta, setter of Allianz Milan

The sixth leg will get underway on Saturday evening with trending Rana Verona welcoming Valsa Group Modena to the Pala Agsm AIM at 20:30 (19:30). Malian scoring machine Noumory Keita, who was named SuperLega’s Most Valuable Player of October, and his teammates have made an excellent recovery from the straight-set loss to Sir at the start to the season and are riding the wave of a four-match winning streak, which lifted them to fourth place on 11 and 4-1. Modena, on the other hand, with the likes of Luciano De Cecco and Simone Anzani on the squad, will try to overturn a negative balance of 2-3 and 6 points, which puts them in seventh place.

Last season’s silver medallists Mint Vero Volley Monza are not where they are expected to be at this point of the new season. They are third from the bottom, in 10th place on 2 and 1-4. Now they have a shot at narrowing the four-point gap to ninth-placed Gioiella Prisma Taranto (6, 2-3), whom they will entertain at the Opiquad Arena on Sunday at 17:00 (16:00).

Cisterna Volley will also try to improve their situation as they host Sonepar Padova Padua on Sunday at 19:00 (18:00). The home team are bottom of the table on 1 and 0-5, while Padova are just above the middle line, in sixth place on 7 and 2-3.

Also on Sunday, at 18:00 (17:00), 13th-placed rookies Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina (2, 0-5) have nothing to lose in trying to improve their record as well, as they entertain mighty Itas Trentino Trento, placed third on 12 and 4-1, who will be desperate for a speedy recovery from last week’s first loss of the season.

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

SuperLega Credem Banca 2024-2025 schedule and results

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