Verona-vs-Piacenza
The only dilemma that remained before the last round of the SuperLega regular season was if Calzedonia Verona can overtake No.4 from Diatec Trentino and secure the home-court advantage in the playoff quarterfinals. And they missed the opportunity by a whisker.
Trentino lost to the 10th-placed Gi Group Monza, for which the Czech Michal Finger scored 18 points (4 kill blocks) by a 3-2 (23-25, 25-18, 27-25, 17-25, 15-8). Luca Vettori tallied 19 points for Trentino. After this, Verona needed a 3-0 or 3-1 win to claim the fourth place in the standings. But, Wixo LPR Piacenza spoiled the chances of Nikola Grbić’s protégés by winning the first two sets. Verona’s comeback, in which Slovenian Tonček Štern scored 26 points (4 aces), was in vain: Trentino will go to the playoffs as No.4 (18-8; 51 points), while Verona settled at No.5 (18-8; 50 points). Alessandro Fei scored 27 points for Piacenza, who recorded 18 kill blocks by a team (Bulgarian Viktor Yosifov made 5).
The regular season winners Sir Safety Conad Perugia concluded this part of the tournament with a straight-set win, the 23rd in 26 matches, against No.8 Bunge Ravenna. These two teams will meet again in the playoffs opening.
PLAYOFF QUARTERFINAL BRACKET (best-of-three series):
No.1 Sir Safety Conad Perugia vs. No.8 Bunge Ravenna
No.2 Cucine Lube Civitanova vs. No.7 Wixo LPR Piacenza
No.3 Azimut Modena vs. Revivre Milano
No.4 Diatec Trentino vs. No.5 Calzedonia Verona
To see complete results, stats, and standings, visit our ITA National Championship 2017/2018 / Male / Seniors page.
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Zaytsev finishes the regular season as the 3rd best reception overall.
He should stay as OH and him and Leon would be a deadly duo able to dethrone Kazan next season.
Verona suffered a lot from Djuric’s injury, he barely played this season. I thought he came back a few weeks ago, but he didn’t play after. Hopefully, he will be back in the playoff
Yes, they would be stronger with him. But Toncek Stern has done a GREAT job and he finished the regular season as the 7th best score with 405 points.