The people of Belluno go out a little at a time and give in to the fifth. On Saturday in Piedmont it will take a company to hit the B1 target
BELLUNO
The Cortina Express complicates life. After winning the first two sets of the first leg final to climb to B1, the women’s sextet of the Belluno Volleyball undergoes the rescue of the BlueTorino Vol-Ley and is first reached, then passed at the tie-break. Qualification remains possible. And the Lupe believe it. In five days (Saturday at 21), Volpiano will need to win (at least even at the tie-break, to then play everything in the golden set). Perhaps it will be another marathon: like last night’s, which lasted almost three hours.
Belluno in full force. In the initial sextet of the home team there are all three players who (in whole or in part) had to skip the final in Conegliano: Mengaziol and Garzaro make up the setter-opposite diagonal, Fantinel and Poles play on the bands, Chiaricati and Fiabane in the center, with Pavei free.
In the first set the Cortina Express starts much better and doubles the Turin players on 8-4 (Garzaro). Then he goes in double figures (10-5) with a cunning stroke from Mengaziol but he gets caught on 13 all. BlueTorino puts his head ahead for the first time at 16-15 with Tessari. In the final, after the point of 23-22 signed by Garzaro, Turin (which in the course of the evening will actually make very little mistakes) makes two consecutive mistakes in attack and the Belluno winners 25-22.
Fear of the referee
At the start of the second set (at 2-2) the first referee Lucia Grassi does not feel well. Once down from the castle, she is accompanied off the floor to be assisted by managers and medical staff. The game is interrupted for a quarter of an hour. Then the second referee, Simone Miggiano from Bolzano, takes over the management of the match alone. Belluno immediately rises to +3 (5-2), then is reassembled (9-9) and overcome (15-11). But captain Fantinel (with two consecutive aces) and Fiabane (his equal 15) drag the Cortina Express into a 4-0 break that puts the set back on its feet. Fiabane herself (who blew out 24 candles yesterday) signs the 25-22.
Turin grows
Things look pretty good for coach Pavei’s sextet.
But the BlueTorino grows with the distance. And although it is the Cortina Express that arrives first in double figures in the third set (Fantinel’s 10-9), it is then the host formation that gains altitude, up to 20-12. Pavei tries various solutions by drawing abundantly from the bench: first Fioretti detects Poles, then Marchesan and Casagrande enter for Mengaziol and Garzaro, finally Bortoluzzi and Zambon let Fiabane and Fantinel catch their breath. Turin imposes itself 25-12.
In the fourth set Pavei relies on the initial sextet but things do not improve. The Lupe are doubled on 16-8. Fioretti’s entry gives vitality to the game of the Belluno players who, under 23-17, date back to at least two (21-23 by Fantinel).
But, after Garzaro cancels the first set point (22-24), the Belluno defense can do nothing against Tessari’s lash: 25-22. Belluno – who had already deluded by winning the first two sets – deceives a second time with a really convincing start of a tie-break: 3-0. At the change of court, however, Turin is ahead 8-6. Ends 15-9. The games remain open. But it will take a lot of extra effort. Nicola Pasuch