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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