Cagliari, 19 December 2024

Trentino Itas-Sport Lisboa e Benfica 2-3, the match report

The match report. Fabio Soli presents his Trentino Itas to a packed PalaPirastu with the best possible lineup: Sbertoli as setter, Rychlicki as opposite, Michieletto and Lavia as outside hitters, Flavio and Bartha as middle blockers, Laurenzano as libero. Sport Lisboa e Benfica responds with Da Silva Violas as setter, Banderò as opposite, Nivaldo Nadhir and Ryuma Oto Aleixo as outside hitters, Wohlfahrtstaetter as middle blockers, Casas as libero. The match begins evenly, with both teams maintaining a good side-out phase until 5-5, before Bartha blocks Nivaldo Nadhir and Michieletto scores an ace for a 7-5 lead for the yellow-blues. The visitors reply with a block from Ryuma Oto Aleixo (8-8), but then Sbertoli takes over with a service rotation, including an ace, to restore a 2-point lead for Trento (11-9, time out Matz). Upon resumption, Nivaldo narrows the gap (14-13); it takes the best Michieletto (ace and attack) to widen the margin again (19-16), but the 3-point lead is short-lived as the Portuguese team climbs back to 20-19. Soli calls a timeout, and Banderò later ensures parity at 20; the sprint begins, and once again Michieletto saves the day with a block on Ryuma Oto Aleixo (23-21), shortly followed by Bartha (quick attack for 24-21 on a rebuilt play). The 1-0 lead for the Italians comes at 25-22 with an attack from Rychlicki.
In the second set, the Lusitanians tried to react with the usual Banderò (6-8), but Flavio's block immediately restored parity for the yellow-blues (8-8). Trentino Itas tried to break away with Rychlicki (11-9), but Benfica's block brought back the balance (11-11); the central part of the set was thus played on a knife-edge (15-15). Again, Rychlicki in counter-attack and Flavio blocking Wohlfahrtstaetter guaranteed a new surge to 18-16; the Portuguese team took refuge in a time-out and, upon resumption, came back alive with Nivaldo (20-19). Once again, the Luxembourgish opposite and his substitute Gabi Garcia (who came in for the serve and immediately scored two aces) scored the points needed to definitively shake off the opponents (24-20); the 2-0 came at 25-22 and certified the qualification for the next round even before the match was over.
In the third set, Fabio Soli also gives playing time to those who hadn't seen the court in this match so far: Acquarone as setter, Bristot and Magalini as outside hitters, Pellacani in the middle, and Pesaresi as libero. Trento doesn't suffer much from the change in the starting lineup and starts well with Bristot serving (5-2); the advantage is substantial and well defended by the yellow-blues with attacks from their Puerto Rican opposite hitter (9-6), before Godlewski evens the score (9-9). Wohlfahrtstaetter with two consecutive blocks puts Benfica ahead (9-11), then expertly repels the European Champions' comeback attempt (from 15-15 to 15-17). In the final stages, the Portuguese team pulls ahead (19-22), taking advantage of two consecutive back-row faults from Trento (by Magalini and Gabi Garcia). The visitors win the set 20-25, as Bristot struggles with reception and attack and then misses the next serve.
The fourth set was a point-to-point battle until 8-8, then Magalini was blocked by Eshenko and Godlewski scored an ace for a +3 lead for the Lusitanians (8-11). Soli called a timeout, but upon resumption, Gabi Garcia also made a mistake and Ventura Machado delivered a crucial service series that propelled the Lisbon team to a +6 lead (10-16). The tie-break was imminent and came at 18-25 because Godlewski continued to dominate. In the fifth set, Bristot started strong (4-1), but Benfica quickly recovered to 6-6 with Nivaldo. The opponents took the lead with Ventura Machado (7-8) and then extended it with Eshenko's block (10-12); the match was decided by a net error from Gabi Garcia at 13-14, after Trento had managed to come back to 13-13 with a block from Pellacani.

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