Modena-vs-Perugia
Modena broke a 12-game winning streak of Perugia in SuperLega in the penultimate round of the regular season – 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 25-20, 21-25, 15-13) in front of 5,000 own fans at PalaPanini. This was the first defeat of Lorenzo Bernardi’s side since December 17, 2017, and that one also came from Modena.
The Frenchman Earvin Ngapeth topped Modena with 21 points. The Slovenian Tine Urnaut added 5 aces, while American Maxwell Holt made 6 kill blocks. In Perugia, the Serbian Aleksandar Atanasijević scored 30 points (3 aces). His compatriot Marko Podraščanin contributed with 4 kill blocks.
Unlike Perugia (22-3; 67 points), this match was of importance for the third-placed Modena (19-6; 57 points), who needed a win to stay in contention for No.2. But, beating Perugia was in vain since Modena’s biggest rivals for this spot in the standings, Cucine Lube Civitanova (21-4; 61 points), also scored a win. The defending champs outplayed the seventh-placed Wixo LPR Piacenza in five sets, partially 19-25, 28-26, 23-25, 25-19, 15-13) with 21 points (3 aces) from the Bulgarian Tsvetan Sokolov. Alessandro Fei scored 22 points (6 aces) for Piacenza. Lube’s starting outside hitter Osmany Juantorena got injured at the end of the fourth set and did not play the tie-break. Recall that he already sustained one injury this season.
The last dilemma when it comes to the playoff participants was eliminated. Bunge Ravenna secured their berth, for now as No.8 but will have the chance to move up to the sixth place in the best-case scenario. Ravenna defeated Gi Group Monza in straight sets thanks to 17 points (3 aces) from Austrian Paul Buchegger.
To see complete results, stats, and standings, visit our ITA National Championship 2017/2018 / Male / Seniors page.
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