Itas Trentino Trento took another lead in the Italian men’s SuperLega Credem Banca championship playoff, and once again it was with a straight-set victory over Cucine Lube Civitanova at home on Sunday. Meanwhile on Saturday, Sir Susa Vim Perugia claimed the SuperLega bronze and qualified for the CEV Champions League, and Allianz Milan and Valsa Group Modena advanced to the final playoff for the fifth place.
Superlega 2024/25
Trentino strikes again; Sir earns bronze
Recap of Italian SuperLega weekend playoffs
Published 05:52, 04 May 2025
Kamil Rychlicki
- Watch the SuperLega on VBTV
Itas Trentino mastered a 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-18) shutout of Cucine Lube Civitanova in front of packed ilT quotidiano Arena stands in Trento with over four thousand fans and took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series. Luxembourgish opposite Kamil Rychlicki claimed the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award of the match. He spiked at an impressive 74% success rate and raised two kill blocks to finish with a match-high 16 points. Outside hitters Alessandro Michieletto and Daniele Lavia added 12 points each for the winners. Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija was Lube’s most prolific scorer with 11 points.
“The team was very determined and patient in managing to deliver our volleyball,” Trentino’s head coach Fabio Soli said. “Serenity is an element that we must maintain and bring to Civitanova for the next match, if we want to interrupt the home-court advantage that is dominating this series. All three matches were marked by various mistakes by both teams, but they were always won by those who managed to face the problems with serenity and patience. Cucine Lube has a truly remarkable quality of play and knows how to express moments of very high volleyball. However, we have the dream of bringing home the title, and to make it come true, we will use all our energy.”
The fourth game of the series will be played in Civitanova Marche on Wednesday, May 7.
In Saturday’s second-leg game of the best-of-three third-place playoff, Sir Susa Vim Perugia closed the series with a nail-biting 3-2 (21-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-17, 20-18) victory at Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, claimed the bronze and booked Italy’s third ticket to next season’s CEV Champions League. The squad from Piacenza took fourth place in the final standings and will compete in the second-tier European club tournament next season, the CEV Cup.
The Block Devils completely outblocked their hosts, by 17-9 in stuffs. Four of Sir’s kill blocks were authored by Argentinean-born middle Sebastian Sole, who finished with a total of 10 points. Polish outside Kamil Semeniuk was Sir’s serving leader with three aces, including the match winner in the overtime of the tie-breaker. He and Tunisian opposite Wassim Ben Tara contributed 16 points each, while Japanese outside Yuki Ishikawa led the team with 18 points and earned the MVP award. Canadian outside Stephen Maar was the best scorer of the match with 21 points for Gas Sales, including three aces. Opposite Yuri Romano scored 19 times for the home team, while Cuban middle Robertlandy Simon, who unfortunately had to leave the court injured at 14-14 in the fifth set, finished with 11, including four blocks.
“It's a gift we wanted to give ourselves for next year,” Sir’s setter and captain Simone Giannelli commented. “It's something important. We played a good game at home, but here we didn't play so well and we have to improve on some things. Having said that, we won, the Champions League is the Champions League. This was our ‘final’ and I'm happy that we won it.”
Allianz Milan and Valsa Group Modena will lock horns in the final playoff for the fifth place on May 10, vying for Italy’s ticket to Europe’s third-tier club competition, the CEV Challenge Cup. They progressed to this deciding match after hard-fought five-set home victories in Saturday’s semifinals.
Allianz wasted a two-set lead against Rana Verona, but regained control in the tie-breaker to celebrate a 3-2 (25-22, 25-19, 24-26, 20-25, 15-11) win. Their Belgian opposite Ferre Reggers hammered out a match-high 30 points, including two aces and two blocks, while his Verona counterpart, Mali’s Noumory Keita, impressed with five aces towards a 28-point total.
Modena came back from a set down twice during their match against Sonepar Padova Padua before achieving a 3-2 (22-25, 25-16, 21-25, 25-18, 15-11) win with a match-high 24 points from Belarusian outside Uladzislau Davyskiba. Austrian opposite Paul Buchegger fired five aces towards a 20-point contribution to Modena’s success.
SuperLega Credem Banca 2024-2025 championship playoff, 4th leg:
May 07, 20:30 local (18:30 UTC): Cucine Lube Civitanova v Itas Trentino Trento
SuperLega Credem Banca 2024-2025 fifth-place final playoff:
May 10, 17:30 local (15:30 UTC): Valsa Group Modena v Allianz Milan
