Volleyball: Perugia and Trento don’t give up anything and also win in the Champions League

Second consecutive victory in the Champions League for Trentino Itas, capable of taking full spoils on the Czech field of Cez Carlovarsko.

Carlovarsko – Trentino 1-3 (19-25, 20-25, 25-21, 13-25)
Even with some ups and downs, especially in the third set, the Lorenzetti team managed to forfeit the second full victory of this preliminary round after the one against the Belgians of Menen, thus arriving in the best possible conditions of classification in comparison with the Polish champions Zaksa Europeans in charge in the last two seasons, beating Trentino in the final. A victory in four partials which came despite the good reaction from the hosts during the third set which forced Kaziyski and his teammates to sweat a little more to bring home full loot. Thanks also to a very positive Lavia when the ball was important. Lorenzetti lines up the now traditional sextet with Kaziyski diverted to the new role of opposite and the diagonal of place 4 Lavia and Michieletto. Between stretches and counter stretches from both sides of the court the first set is balanced up to 10 all, then above all the block tests and attacks by Lisinac and Kaziyski allow Itas to dig the furrow on 12-16. Then when Lavia finds some excellent choices in attack and the Bulgarian hits well then the score moves to 16-20 in favor of Lorenzetti’s boys, a decisive draw to seal the first set. In the second set, the Trentino side immediately sprinted ahead 4-8, time-out called by Carlovarsko but then on the return to the field Lisinac found two consecutive aces for 4-11. The set now seems to be going downhill for Lorenzetti’s team. who, however, excessively lowers his pace of play and the hosts take advantage of it, managing to bring themselves back to minus 4 on 12-16. Only in the final set does a Lavia always on excellent levels keep the gap (17-21) in favor of the guests. This brings us to the third set, the one in which Carlovarsko has tried a comeback since the first exchanges, Lorenzetti removes Michieletto to insert Dzavoronok but it is always the hosts who hold the ball in hand at the beginning: 15 to 11. Lavia and Lisinac try to keep Trento in line (19-16) but in the final the Czechs don’t give away anything and go to close, hoping to thus reopen the match. Or at least they try since the landlords only hold out for a few exchanges at the start of the fourth set, in which they are immediately behind by two or three points. But in the long run Sbertoli and associates run away even reaching the maximum advantage of 10 points on 11 to 21, when the curtain is ready to come down on the match. (Nicholas Baldo)

The race for Perugia does not stop even in Turkey, which scores another victory (the 11th), but above all it even mortgages the first place in the grouping which would be vital for the Italian clubs, given that the first of each group goes directly to the quarterfinals and avoid eighths.

Ziraat Ankara-Perugia 1-3 (26-24, 22-25, 20-25, 23-25)
Anastasi reintroduces Leon from the first minute (something that hasn’t happened since the Super Cup final) with Semeniuk on the bench together with Russo and Colaci. Perugia starts well and seems to take over with a break of 4 points, but Perugia fails to finalize and Ziraat recovers one point at a time especially with its Dutch bomber Ter Maat who closes the first fraction with 70% in attack. It is precisely the Ziraat that plays the charge in front of the friendly public. Anastasi changes something, puts Russo and Semeniuk in and focuses again on Leon. The match goes on point by point, with the Turks shooting full-on at serve, but Leon makes the break from the nine-metre line and then the final shoulder is that of Simone Giannelli who closes the second fraction, not before a entry of Colaci in defense. Anastasi keeps Solé and Semeniuk in the field and for Perugia it is another test of maturity because the Turks, although inferior to the Italian battleship, do not give up anything and are looking for a scalp of great prestige and above all looking for qualification points. Perugia has the merit of never giving up and always sticking to the match, even when the broadsides from the other side of the net hurt. The last draw is at 22 in the fourth set, then Sir takes the right momentum to score her second victory (by 3 points) in Europe, the eleventh overall.