Cagliari, 19 December 2024

2025 CEV Cup, in Cagliari Trentino Itas takes an early 2-0 lead and secures playoff pass

Mission accomplished in Sardinia for Trentino Itas. By losing only in the tiebreak of the second leg of the round of 16 (played at PalaPirastu in Cagliari to specifically bring high-level volleyball to one of the regions most passionate about this sport) against the Portuguese team Benfica, the European Champions have secured their ticket to the Play Offs of the 2025 CEV Cup. In the second half of January, they will face again a Romanian team, the national champions of Corona Brasov.
The promising 3-0 success in the first leg fifteen days ago in Lisbon paid off tonight, quickly closing the discussion about advancing to the next round. With a convincing start that was able to contain the opponents' outbursts, the yellow-blues quickly achieved a double lead with identical 25-22 sets thanks to Michieletto and Rychlicki; this was enough to render the rest of the match irrelevant for qualification purposes, allowing both coaches to give playing time to those who had been on the bench until then. Benfica showed their desire to conclude their continental experience this season with honor, coming back from 2-0 to 2-2 and then winning a hard-fought tie-break, which delighted the over 2,200 spectators present tonight in the Sardinian venue, who thus enjoyed over two hours of high-level international volleyball. Among the yellow-blues, the top scorers were the Romanian middle blocker Bartha (who was in the starting six for Soli and scored 78% in attack, with four blocks and one ace) and the opposite Rychlicki (55%) with twelve points, but crucial for advancing to the next round were also the contributions of Flavio and Michieletto in the first part of the match. In the second half, Magalini (7 points) and especially Gabi Garcia (11 points with 60%), who was already a key player at the end of the second set with two consecutive aces at 22-20, stood out the most.

Below is the scoreboard for the second leg of the 2025 CEV Cup round of 16, played this evening at PalaPirastu in Cagliari.

Trentino Itas - Sport Lisboa e Benfica 2-3
(25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 18-25, 13-15)
TRENTINO ITAS: Bartha 12, Sbertoli 1, Lavia 5, Flavio 6, Rychlicki 12, Michieletto 10, Laurenzano (L); Gabi Garcia 11, Pellacani 4, Bristot 8, Pesaresi (L), Magalini 7, Acquarone. Coach: Fabio Soli.
SPORT LISBOA E BENFICA: Wohlfahrtstaetter 5, Ryuma Oto Aleixo 9, Da Silva Violas 3, Nivaldo Nadhir 20, Eshenko 9, Banderò 5, Casas (L); Leitao 2, Godlewski 9, Ventura Machado 13, Bernardo (L), Brito 1, Teixeira 1. Not played: Hoffman da Cunda. Coach: Marcel Matz.
REFEREES: Barev from Sofia (Bulgaria) and Sanchez Rodriguez from Oviedo (Spain).
SET DURATION: 25’, 31’, 24’, 24’, 18’; total 2h 2’.
NOTES: 2,200 spectators. Trentino Itas: 10 blocks, 8 aces, 23 service errors, 8 attack errors, 50% in attack, 58% (28%) in reception. Sport Lisboa e Benfica: 11 blocks, 6 aces, 19 service errors, 5 attack errors, 53% in attack, 43% (25%) in reception.

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