Civitanova Marche (Macerata), 12 May 2023

Cucine Lube Civitanova-Itas Trentino 3-1, Final Play Off Match #4 report

Here is game 4 report. Lorenzetti confirms the starting six: Sbertoli as setter, Kaziyski as opposite spiker, Michieletto and Lavia as hitter spikers, D’Heer and Podrascanin as middle blockers and Laurenzano as libero. Cucine Lube Civitanova replies with: De Cecco as setter, Nikolov as opposite, Bottolo and Yant as hitter spikers, Anzani and Chinenyeze as middle blockers and Balaso as libero. The game start seems to be hard for the yellow-blue team, who immediately loses touch (2-4, 3-7 and 3-9) though Nikolov (he goes wild in attack and serve), leading Lorenzetti to immediately use both time outs. In the middle of the set, the hosts ramped up with Yant's aces (three consecutive for 9-16); Džavoronok took Michieletto's place, and slowly Trento began to make its presence felt with Podrascanin's blocks that put Bottolo in trouble at the net (13-18 to 16-18). The opponents go wild again at service (Yants)during the most difficult moment of the match, gaining two new advantage points (17-22) which allow the team to easily secure the first set (18-25).
In the second set, Michieletto immediately catches up again but struggles in reception as did Lavia, so Cucine Lube again managed to make a sprint (3-5 and 5-8). This time the Lorenzetti’s time out had the desired effect: Trento draws level at nine with Podrascanin and Sbertoli, and then goes ahead with Kaziyski and a Nikolov error (11-9). In the middle of the set, the yellow-blue team protect their advantage score (14-11, 18-15) and the side-out phase becomes more flexible also thanks to Alessandro’s net recovery. At the end of the set, Kaziysky’s error marks an advantage for Civitanova team (22-21), who then goes ahead with Gabi Garcia’s service (who is on court at the place of Nikolov since the mid-set, 22-23). Itas Trentino cancelled two set points before falling on the third (25-27) due to a Podrascanin error in the first half.
The yellow-blue tram does not lose spirits and tries to get off to a flying start in the third set with Michieletto's services (5-1), but the wide lead lasts just a few minutes (7-5) as Chinenyeze had a great impact at block, and in fact signed two of them, the second of which on Podrascanin was enough to bring the score to 11 (Lorenzetti time out). Then, Michieletto marked a new important gap with two consecutive aces on Bottolo (14-11); the opponents are no longer able to recover the gap (19-15, 22-18) and left the set already at 25-20.
Cucine Lube came back to rule the scene in the fourth set (2-6), pushed forward by Bottolo and the yellow-blue errors. Lorenzetti spent his two time-outs within a few minutes, without finding convincing answers (4-9 and 5-11). The half was already headed and was resolved in just a few minutes, under the hosts' spurts at the net and from the nine-metre line (9-16). Game 5 already came to an end on 16-25. A play-off will be needed to decide the awarding of the championship.

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