In a thrilling ending of the Italian men’s SuperLega Credem Banca regular season on Sunday evening, there were last-minute switches at both ends of the table, with Mint Vero Volley Monza earning salvation in an epic and nail-biting five-setter, Gioiella Prisma Taranto dropping to the bottom of the standings and on to Serie A2 for next season, also after a five-set battle, and defending champions Sir Susa Vim Perugia handing the first place in the regular season over to Itas Trentino Trento in a photo-finish on set ratios.
Superlega 2024/25
Vero Volley find salvation in thrilling saga, Prisma out, Trentino win regular season
Recap of Italian SuperLega 22nd-leg matches
Published 05:24, 03 Mar 2025
Vero Volley players celebrate their survival in the SuperLega
- Watch the SuperLega on VBTV.
Four of the five sets in the nerve-wracking encounter between Mint Vero Volley Monza and Cisterna Volley were resolved in overtime. At the end of an extended tie-breaker, the hosts from Monza squeezed out a 3-2 (25-27, 25-19, 26-28, 26-24, 17-15) victory, which proved enough for overtaking Gioiella Prisma Taranto, who also engaged in a five-set drama at home against Rana Verona before conceding a 3-2 (25-21, 29-31, 25-27, 25-17, 15-12) defeat. This meant that the two “candidates” for relegation were now tied on 15 points each, but a 6-16 win-loss record, against 4-18 for Prisma, last year’s silver medallists now finished second from the bottom and survived in the top division for next season.
In front of over three thousand fans at the Opiquad Arena in Monza, German outside hitter’s Erik Rohrs’ kill block put an end to the tie-breaker and handed the precious victory to the home team. He emerged as Vero Volley’s best scorer of the match with 16 points and claimed the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Cisterna’s French opposite Theo Faure produced a match-high 24 points, including three aces and four kill blocks. Cisterna finished the regular season in eighth place on 24 points and a 9-13 win-loss record, with a historic spot in the quarterfinal playoffs.
“It’s hard to believe it! But this season I have never lost hope and both the staff and the boys have never stopped fighting. This is what we must remember about this season,” commented an elated Vero Volley club president Alessandra Marzari. “I am very happy for everyone, especially for our fans, who have always been with us.”
PURE JOY 🥹❤️💙#aUniverseOfStories ✨ #AllForOne pic.twitter.com/SeSkuFkJFu
— Vero Volley (@VeroVolley) March 2, 2025
Vero Volley’s salvation came at Prisma’s expense. The team from Taranto bid farewell to the SuperLega with their heads held high after succumbing in an even battle with their strong visitors from Verona. Rana’s Malian opposite Keita Noumory spearheaded the victory with an impressive match high of 35 points, including five aces and two blocks. His team finished fourth on 41 and 14-8 and earned a home-court advantage for their quarterfinal series against Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza. Canadian outside Brodie Hofer led Prisma with 24 points, including four aces.
“This relegation hurts a lot, especially after five years, also considering the promotion,” said Prisma’s general director Vito Primavera. “We have experienced incredible battles and equally extraordinary salvations. It is a great disappointment.”
Itas Trentino Trento mastered a 3-0 (28-26, 25-14, 25-21) shutout of their hosts Sonepar Padova Padua with a match-high 20 points from Luxembourgish opposite Kamil Rychlicki. Meanwhile, Sir Susa Vim Perugia achieved a 3-1 (25-19, 25-16, 25-27, 25-14) victory at Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, with Ukrainian outside Oleh Plotnytskyi acing five times towards a match-high total contribution of 18 points. That third set cost defending champs the first place in the final regular season standings. Trentino and Sir finished on 57 and 20-2 each. However, Trentino’s set record of 62-22 produces a slightly better ratio than Sir’s 63-23. Gas Sales took fifth place on 39 and 13-9. In their best-of-five quarterfinal playoff, Trentino will take on Cisterna, while Sir will face Valsa Group Modena.
Valsa Group Modena finished seventh on 29 and 9-13 after a 3-0 (25-22, 25-2, 25-23) sweep of their visit to Allianz Milan, who took sixth place on 36 and 12-10. Belarusian outside Uladzislau Davyskiba led Modena with 17 points to his name.
In their first playoff match-up, Allianz will meet Cucine Lube Civitanova who hammered out a 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-19) home win over SuperLega rookies Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina, with Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija leading the way with 13 points. Lube finished on 46 and 14-8 in third place.
Ninth-placed Padova (19, 6-16) and 10th-placed Grottazzolina (18, 5-17) advanced to the fifth-place playoffs and are awaiting for their other opponents, the four losers of the quarterfinal playoffs. The best-of-five quarterfinals will start with the first-leg matches on Saturday, March 8, and Sunday, March 9.
SuperLega Credem Banca 2024-2025 quarterfinal playoffs, 1st leg:
Mar 08, 16:00 local (15:00 UTC): Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Valsa Group Modena
Mar 08, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Itas Trentino Trento v Cisterna Volley
Mar 09, 17:00 local (16:00 UTC): Cucine Lube Civitanova v Allianz Milan
Mar 09, 19:30 local (18:30 UTC): Rana Verona v Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza
