Siena, 26 December 2018

Emma Villas Siena-Itas Trentino 1-3, the match report

Itas Trentino made it to Tuscany without any particular problem with the formation: for his starting six, Lorenzetti chose Giannelli as the setter, Vettori the opposite hitter, Kovacevic and Russell the spikers, Lisinac and Candellaro as the middle hitters and Grebennikov as the libero. On the other hand, Zanini’s Emma Villas Siena had Marouf as the setter, Hernandez the opposite hitter, Maruotti and Ishikawa the outside hitters, Spadavecchia and Gladyr as the middle hitters and Giovi the libero. The beginning of the set favoured the opponents, who made it to 1-5 thanks to Marouf and Ishikawa’s serving, forcing Itas Trentino to ask for a time out. As the match started again, Russell tried to encourage his teammates (5-7), but Ishikawa increased the gap (6-10). Trento struggled with the attack and the defence and because of this Maruotti and Gladyr (two aces) reached the maximum advantage of +7 (9-16). Itas Trentino did not lose its cool and kept what was good from the previous mistakes: thanks to Nelli’s serving, to Russell, full of energy and to Vettori’s effective attacks, the team almost managed to close the gap (20-22) before Hernandez proved his worth and won the set (21-25).
Itas Trentino tried to get itself together at the beginning of the second set with Kovacevic (5-2), then Hernandez reduced the advantage but again, thanks to the Serbian duo, the team increased the gap (11-8). Itas Trentino defence got stronger and it increased the advantage (13-9 Zanini asked for a time out) also thanks to Kovacevic’s blocks and attacks (21-15). Siena lost its cool and its pace: the team from Trento gained fast the points to win the second set (25-17).
The third set began with balance (4-4), soon disturbed by the duo of area 4 (8-6 and then 11-9). The Tuscan team made a number of mistakes whereas Trento was very precise in every fundamental. This difference itself increased even more the gap (13-9, 17-12) and Emma Villas was unable to answer. The set ended rapidly (25-17) with the great performance of Lisinac. Trying to win the match in four sets, Itas Trentino started convinced after the three-minute break. Russell’s block on Hernandez and Candellaro’s block on Gladyr ensured the advantage (8-5) and then it was Kovacevic’s turn to increase the gap (14-9). The World Champions were overwhelming; with the Serbian serving and Vettori attacking, they reached 18-9. The end of the match came rapidly (20-13, 22-14, 25-16) and Itas Trentino won 3-1 with also Van Garderen on the court.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office