Vero Volley Monza was easy prey in the first three rounds of the 2022-23 Italian Men’s Volleyball Championship but then resurrected in Round 4 to sweep the titleholders.
In a night to remember, Vero Volley Monza have proven capable of taking the first victory of the season in SuperLega Credem Banca. They did so against one of the most difficult teams in the championship, the reigning Italian champions, Cucine Lube Civitanova. The Round 4 encounter ended 3-0 for the formation of Massimo Eccheli, able to churn out an extraordinary performance and break a streak of three defeats in the first three matchdays.
The German opposite, Georg Grozer, tallied 20 points on the winning side, a match-high offensive output. The Canadian international, Stephen Maar, served as many as 7 aces, greatly contributing to the upset. He made 4 blocks. The Belarusian outside hitter, Uladzislau Davyskiba, had a 70% reception (10 digs, 40% perfect). The only double-digit player at Lube was Ivan Zaytsev (14 points). This was Lube’s second defeat in five matches played. Not such a promising start to the title defense campaign…
Itas Trentino won the marathon and managed to beat the Top Volley Cisterna 3-2. They ended their own three-game losing streak in a match whose third set lasted for as many as 44 minutes and ended with a score of 35-33. At the same time, Angelo Lorenzetti’s guys broke Cisterna’s invincibility.
The Bulgarian legend, Matey Kaziyski, performs this season as he got rejuvenated. The 38-year-old veteran outside hitter had another efficient display, scoring 30 points for Trentino. Croatian Petar Djirlić tallied 27 on the losing side.
The vice-champions, Sir Safety Susa Perugia, first struggled then tamed Pallavolo Padova to remain the only undefeated side in the league (given that Cisterna lost today). Even though their Cuban-Polish superstar, Wilfredo León, was given a rest by the head coach Andrea Anastasi, the ‘Block Devils’ managed to overcome 0-1 in sets against the favorite killers, Padova, avoiding the faith of Modena and Lube.
The Luxembourgish-Italian outside hitter, Kamil Rychlicki stamped 23 points through a 72% attack (18/25, 1 error) for Perugia. Pole Kamil Semeniuk served 5 aces. The Argentine-Italian middle blocker, Sebastian Solé had 91% attack (10/11), while Ukrainian Oleh Plotnytskyi made 70% reception (20 digs, 55% perfect). Japanese Ran Takahashi top-scored for Padova with 16 points.
Allianz Milan conquered the iconic PalaPanini at the end of a long-lasting race against the home side of Valsa Group Modena. Following many errors on both sides and many reversals of the score, Roberto Piazza’s team earned a victory of 3-2. Modena were ahead 2-1 in sets and 4 points up in the fourth set (21-17), i.e. one step away from success. Milano overcame the fall in concentration to tie at 2-2 in sets before prevailing in the tie-break’s overtime, even though without two starters and very important players (Piano and Ishikawa) at full disposal – they entered as backups on several occasions.
French Jean Patry grounded 21 points for Milano. The Turkish opposite, Adis Lagumdžija, scored 28 for Modena, including 4 aces.
2022-23 SuperLega Credem Banca – regular season, Round 4:
