The Arena di Monza hosted one of the most expected matches so far, the current two leaders of this year SuperLega Credem Banca 21-22, Massimo Eccheli’s Vero Volley Monza faced Lorenzo Bernardi’s Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza.
Coming from two consecutive wins, against Taranto 3-0 and Ravenna 3-1, the monzesi aimed for their third win to consolidate on the top of the standings and to overtake the ‘’Emiliani’’, that was in the first position for the highest number of wins (4 against the 3 of the rossoblù ). But on the other side of the net there was a very motivated Piacenza looking to reach their fifth consecutive victory. Winning 3-1 against Ravenna, and at the tie break against Civitanova and Milan, Bernardi’s team defeated Modena in a sold-out Palapanini last weekend, 3-1 in a very tight match. Lead by the former opposite of Monza, Adis Lagumdzija, Gas Sales Bluenergy tried to replicate the good performance of last season in Brianza, when they managed to beat the Lombards in three sets but today it was a whole different story and Monza played stunning volleyball to be the current leaders of the league.
1st set: Monza started well with an ace from Davyskiba, but then Rossard immediately responded to give the away team the first point. Two consecutive blocks by Lagumdzija and Holt brought Piacenza forward (4-5), but Vero Volley marked the first break of the match with Dzavoronok and Davyskiba (7-5). The set was very tight until Antonov entered to serve and the hitter scored an ace to give Piacenza the lead 18-19, after a time out requested by Eccheli, Grozer sends the ball out. However, Dzavoronok and Davyskiba reacted quickly to even the score (20-20), then a block by Davyskiba’s gave Monza a wider advantage, forcing Bernardi to ask for a time out. When returning to court Grozer scored to go 3 points up and, with the help of the video check, Davyskiba got 3 set points for Monza. Brizard scored to keep Piacenza on the set, but Grozer closed it for Monza 25-22.
2nd set: Piacenza reacted quickly taking an early break at 3-5, Lagumdzija and Rossard brought the score to 4-8. Monza struggled in attack but then balanced the block’s pace and defense, going from 5-9 to 8-9 thanks to Galassi and Dzavoronok. The set was played point to point but Monza found the advantage at 16:14 after a block from Galassi. Bernardi asked for a time out at 20-18, but Grozer gave Monza again a 3-point advantage. A great block from Grozdanov on Stern gave the home team 4 set points. A mistake by Piacenza gave Monza the set by 25-21.
3rd set: Monza went out to the court determined to take the match so they took the lead from the beginning of the set. Bernardi stopped the game several times and made many changes, but the rossoblù were on fire with a 14-8 lead. Russell entered the court in Piacenza desperation to catch Monza, but Monza’s block was unstoppable. The rest of the set was an easy ride for Monza, that took the set 25-17 and the match 3-0.
Monza – Piacenza 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-17)
FULL SQUAD– VERO VOLLEY MONZA
Setters: Santiago Orduna (1) (MVP OF THE MATCH), Tomasz Calligaro
Middle-Blockers: Aleks Grozdanov (6), Gianluca Galassi (7), Thomas Beretta,
Spikers: Denis Karyagin, Donovan Dzavoronok (17), Alessandro Galliani, Georg Grozer (18), Tomislav Mitrasinovic, Vlad Davyskiba (10)
Libero: Filippo Federici, Marco Gaggini
Coach: Massimo Eccheli
FULL SQUAD– GAS SALES BLUENERGY PIACENZA
Setters: Antoine Brizard (1), Pierre Pujol
Middle-Blockers: Alessandro Tondo, Enrico Cester (3), Philip Maxwell Holt (5), Edoardo Caneschi
Spikers: Adis Lagumdzija (8), Aron Russell (1), Francesco Recine (6), Toncek Stern (2), Oleg Antonov (2), Thibault Rossard (10)
Libero: Damiano Catania, Leonardo Scanferla
Coach: Lorenzo Bernardi
AUTHOR: Lucia M. Lecouna
Sports Data Scout and Journalist
A former student of Communication and Media at the IULM University, sports journalist that focuses on Football, Volleyball and Basketball.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucia-l-914710139
Contact mail: lulile(at)gmail.com