The derby of bubbles smiles at Prosecco Doc that can toast to victory, and to the unbeaten held after a long trip to Piedmont. Last night, the two feline formations brought different needs to the taraflex. For Cuneo it was important to find certainties and points through his own game, in particular by trying to snatch a few points from the first of the big four to be faced in this November, with the aim of leaving the lower part of the standings. On the other hand, for Prosecco Doc it was essential to continue the work begun to break in the agreement on the pitch, finding more continuity between the players.
An even more important imperative was to try to close the match quickly to return to Treviso having saved as much energy as possible in view of the next appointments. In fact, next Wednesday the Panthers will be expected for a new away match, at the court of Novara, contender for the first place in the standings and a team that this month will be faced by the Gialloblù a second time, after 20 days, in the Super Cup match. But this happened only partially, given that the turnover operated by Santarelli initially destabilized the balance. Among the news at the Gialloblù home, to report the return to the group of the second setter Roberta Carraro, out since the beginning of the season, who made her seasonal debut in Serie A.
Santarelli, keeping his word, fielded the fifth possible formation fielding for the first time the unprecedented pair formed by Wolosz and Plummer, with Gray, Cook, Squarcini, Lubian and De Gennaro. Zanini, deprived of the opposite owner Gicquel, still out due to injury, has instead focused on Signorile, Drews, Kuznetsova, Szakmary, Hall, Cecconello and Caravello free, ex of excellence of the evening. While in the stands the Cuneo fans showed a banner in homage to Paolone, the home team started very determined, with a first half by Cecconello and a double attack by the opposite Drews welcomed the yellow-blues to Piedmontese soil (3- 1). For the Panthers it was an uphill first set, marked by difficulties on the wall and in defense. At 13-8 Daniele Santarelli, after reminding his players in a timeout to use their heads, partially changed the squad with the addition of Haak and Carraro. The entry of Gennari and De Kruijf did not serve to shake the situation, so much so that Prosecco Doc, with a double mistake (Gennari, Plummer) handed the set to the opponents.
Cuneo restarted at the same pace also in the next set, but dealt with a change of yellow-blue pace, which found the fundamentals of the block (5) and ace (3), and the thrust of Haak, author of 9 points in the set . Having found a good rhythm, and a valuable lift by Haak for Cook on 11-17, the Prosecco Doc then kept on the same wave also in the third set, allowing itself at the end the thrill of being reached by Kuznetsova and her companions, able to cancel 3 set point. The fourth was held point by point until De Kruijf’s block on Kuznetsova pushed the yellow-blues up to +3 (7-10). In the final phase a new Piedmontese flare came with the good turn of Kuznetsova (14-17) but, after the timeout, the Prosecco Doc managed to grit its teeth and close the match with the fast of De Kruijf.
As for the rest of the fifth day, the matches staged this afternoon at 17 between Novara and Bergamo and between Chieri and Florence will be very interesting for the ranking.