Kedzierzyn-Kozle (Poland), 07 March 2023

Champions League, Trentino Itas fights until the tie break in Kędzierzyn-Koźle

The first leg match of the quarterfinals of the 2023 CEV Champions League honored the home court advantage and rewarded the hosts of Grupa Azoty Kędzierzyn-Koźle. Tonight in Poland, Trentino Itas in fact had to deal with its first stop of the season in the competition,  the two-time reigning European Champions had won the match only after five grueling sets and almost two and a quarter hours of play. The setback in the tie break at the Azoty Arena, however, leaves the qualification still an open game. In nine days' time, on Thursday, March 16th, in Trento, Kaziyski and his teammates will in fact have the opportunity to turn the situation around and directly conquer qualification by winning at most four sets; in case of a 3-2 victory they will instead need to play the golden set (tiebreaker set at fifteen), while the Polish players would reach the semifinals by winning with any score at the BLM Group Arena. The first act of the double-header saw the two teams give life to a battle of the highest technical and physical level, which set aside many frontal upturning even in the individual sets. After a convincing start by the hosts, who were good at laying down the law in the opening set, Trentino Itas was able to reverse the trend, becoming the protagonist during the second and third sets of a great double comeback that earned them the 2-1 temporary lead; Kaziyski and Lavia in attack and Podrascanin with his blocks  dragged their teammates. The promising early lead in the fourth set (5-2 and 7-4) has not been exploited, indeed, Lorenzetti's team ran out of energy at the decisive moment, having played nine sets in the space of just over 48 hours, and thus had to suffer the comeback of the Polish players, who were able to win that set and also the subsequent tie break, led from start to finish. Among Trentino Itas’ ranks, worth mentioning were once again Captain Kaziyski over 20 points (21 with 50% at the net, one block and two aces), both Lavia and Michieletto have shown their commitment (15 points each) and the gradual growth of an increasingly fit Lisinac (10 winning balls, with 67% in the first half, one block and one point shot). For the purposes of the precious point gained, the entry in the course of the game of Džavoronok (a block, an ace and an attack), who finished the game on the court in place of Lavia, was essential.

Below is the scoreboard of the first leg of quarterfinals of 2023 CEV Champions League, played this evening at Azoty Arena in Kędzierzyn-Koźle.

Grupa Azoty Kędzierzyn-Koźle-Trentino Itas 3-2

(25-22, 22-25, 22-25, 25-21, 15-10)

GRUPA AZOTY: Sliwka 17, Smith 7, Kaczmarek 23, Bednorz 19, Pashitskii 8, Janusz 1, Shoji (L); Kluth, Huber. N.e. Stepien, Wiltenburg, Staszewski, Zalinski e Banach.  Coach: Sammelvuo.

TRENTINO ITAS: Lavia 15, Lisinac 10, Sbertoli 3, Michieletto 15, Podrascanin 6, Kaziyski 21, Laurenzano (L); Nelli, Džavoronok 3, Pace. N.e. D’Heer, Cavuto, Berger, Depalma. Coach: Angelo Lorenzetti.

REFEREES: Kurtiss from Riga (Estonia) and Goncalves from Porto (Portugal).

SET DURATION: 27’, 27’, 29’, 30’, 19’; tot 2h and 12’.
NOTES: 4,000 spectators. Grupa Azoty: 12 blocks, 6 aces, 17 serve errors, 10 action errors, 50% in attack, 46% (22%) in reception. Trentino Itas: 7 blocks, 8 aces, 19 serve errors, 11 action errors, 49% in attack, 43% (19%) in reception. MVP Kaczmarek.

Trentino Volley Srl
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