Vero Volley Monza will play the Italian Men’s Volleyball Super Cup final for the first time ever.
Vero Volley Monza served a surprise in the semi-final of the 2021 Italian Men’s Super Cup (Del Monte Supercoppa SuperLega) in Civitanova. They dropped one set to the national champions and Final Four hosts Cucine Lube Civitanova but earned three and made a historical advancement to the gold medal encounter. Lube truly disappointed their fans for most of the match and appear far from the display thanks to which they dominated the last championship. There are objective reasons for that (the injury of Ivan Zaytsev) but it is obvious that Lube lack something in their play, which Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza also punished in Round 2 of SuperLega. On the other hand, Monza threw another major favorite for titles this season after thrashing Leo Shoes PerkinElmer Modena in the opening round of the league.
Monza won the first set 25-22, with much more confidence than the final score had shown, dominated the second set 25-16, while in the third, they came close to overturning 10-17 but it lost 21-25. The fourth set was balanced for most of the time, but Monza geared up in the finish of it to reach 25-20 and take the encounter. This was Monza’s inaugural triumph over Lube, which came after 15 defeats. German star Georg Grozer was irrepressible today, scoring 21 points. Brazilian Ricardo Lucarelli was the only highlight of Lube, tallying 15 points through a 72% attack (13/18, blocked four times), but underperformed in reception (28%). Cuban Robertlandy Simón set up four blocks.
One surprise was not enough in the semi-finals. The 26th edition of the competition will end with the least predictable final. That’s because Itas Trentino will join Monza there. The CEV Champions League club vice-champions left another Scudetto finalist from last season empty-handed – Sir Safety Conad Perugia. With almost perfect performance, the wards of Angelo Lorenzetti rejected the ‘Block Devils’ 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-23). Bulgarian Matey Kaziyski played like in his best days (15 points) and was one of as many as five players in double digits on the scoresheet.
Perugia head coach Nikola Grbić put American Matt Anderson to the position of the opposite hitter, but Lorenzetti had a creation of his own to respond, putting three outside hitters in the lineup on several occasions during the match. Perugia gave rise of extraordinary intensity to their gameplay in the third set but these were the only moments in which they posed worthy rivals. Cuban-Polish Wilfredo León was the only player in Perugia who managed to come up with some solutions – 16 points.
So, tomorrow at 6 p.m. local time, at Eurosuole Forum, Monza and Trentino will vie for the trophy in the 2021 Super Cup, the duel which will be covered by PowerPlay Canada and numerous other online bookmakers, which have volleyball on their offers.
2021 Del Monte Supercoppa SuperLega – semi-finals:
Cucine Lube Civitanova – Vero Volley Monza 1-3 (22-25, 16-25, 25-21, 20-25)
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – Itas Trentino 0-3 (21-25, 21-25, 23-25)
Final (Sunday, October 24, 6 p.m. local time):
Vero Volley Monza – Itas Trentino
