Perugia
For the first time in the club history, Sir Safety Conad Perugia won the gold medal in the national cup – Del Monte Coppa Italia.
Perugia prevailed over trophy holders Cucine Lube Civitanova in the final at the packed PalaFlorio gymnasium in Bari, 3-1 (16-25, 25-22, 25-20, 27-25). Thus, they added the second gold medal this season as they already claimed the national Suoercup.
Lube wrecked Perugia in the first set and it seemed that stage fright due to their first-ever appearance in the cup final caught the players coached by Lorenzo Bernardi.
But, Perugia did not only tie at 1-1 but also took a 2-1 lead, which was a prelude to a beautiful fourth set which was full of intensity. Perugia constantly had a 2-point lead until Lube finally managed to equalize at 12-12. After a period of trading points back and forth, Lube’s lead went up by two (21-19). At 22-20 for Lube, Perugia made a 2-0 run and leveled at 12-12. At 25-25, Aaron Russell fired an ace, while Aleksandar Atanasijević hit the ball right on the line in the next point for 27-25!
The Serbian opposite Aleksandar Atanasijević topped Perugia, who had 77% excellent attack by a team in the fourth set, with 20 points and was awarded MVP of the final tournament. His compatriot Marko Podraščanin made 89% excellent attack (8/9, 13 points). As for Lube, who struggled with reception throughout the entire match (35% positive) but especially in the third set (only 20%), the Bulgarian Tsvetan Sokolov scored 22 points.
See the complete results of the tournament from the quarterfinals by visiting our ITA National Cup 2017/2018 (Male) page.
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Unbelievable performance by Atanasijevic. Best OPP in Seria A and TOP best OPP in the World.
Leon won`t come, which means Perugia will give all the money they have to keep Atanasijević, with him killing the ball and Zaytsev receiving well, Perugia will certainly win Seria A and will probably beat Kazan in CL.
Re: @Marcon. Zaytsev must be really mad because Atanasijevic played good! No there is no chance for him to stay in Perugia and play opposite. Next destination???
Re: @Axe Tell that to Zaytsev’s 50% positive reception and 35% perfect reception. haha Who would they get as italian crusher? There’s no one in the market who is better than Zaytsev other than Juantorena who would cost more money. Perugia will be smart to let go Atanasijevic. There are better options at the opposites available in the market than an outside hitter that is not foreigner. Perugia never won anything before Zaytsev and Russell and especially Colaci. That are the biggest differences with Perugia. Good luck to Perugia after Zaytsev. That guy is going to destroy Perugia after he leaves. 🙂
Even Sokolov outplayed Atanasijevic in the final by the way.
Sokolov 22 vs Atanasijevic 20 pts and the massive block he brings for Lube is more valuable than what Atanasijevic brings to Perugia.
By the way… that Coppa Italia win… That was a team win… that was not a game won by one player alone. Certainly not Atanasinevic on his own. Haha
Lorenzo Bernardi should be given credits too. Love how he made a team that chokes play better during the final.
Re: @duh
Nope. ATA outplayed Sokolov.
ATA 20/33 61%
Sokolov 20/35 57%
Re: @Petrovic lol are you kidding? That ain’t a big difference. One ace and a block. Sokolov made life harder for the crushers with his block. Always had in Superlega. Did you know that? He can destroy anyone with a solo block on the crushers. I believe he makes around 2-3 blocks per game. I’m not even adding the unforced errors he causes to the crushers. Difficult to counter. Hard to surpass. Without the bulgarian giant… Game would be easier for Perugia.
Re: @duhonce again you!! Ok, we understood you do not like Atanasijevic, probably your girl is in love in him, but You are the most funny when you starting to analyze volleyball. Believe me, as ex pro, including A1 ITA, you don’t know basic volleyball lines. Everyone from high volleyball knows Atanasijevic and Maxim are the best opposites in the World.
Re: @duh Dude, why don’t you chill out? Your love for Zaytsev and hate for Atanasijevic is well known. You blame Atanasijevic because your favorite can’t play his favorite role, and you ignore all the facts. Remember how was Perugia last year when Atanasijevic was injured and Zaytsev played opposite? Kovac got fired because they were losing too many games. And Bernardi didn’t do anything, just Atanasijevic got back and voila, look at Perugia.
Give Atanasijevic a slight raise for 2 years and Zaytsev too for 1. They both are getting paid very well. Ivan is doing a much better job on the outside this year and being a team leader and limiting the primadonna stuff which is great. Keep the same crew together for another year and then worry…..big time about keeping Russell. He will be in their $$ range next contract. You saw in game 1 when you dont set Russell until 1 ball until almost point 17 Perugia was in trouble. Once a balanced attack happened Lube was overwhelmed. The set distribution was terrific today.