Casalecchio di Reno (Bologna), 25 January 2025

Itas Trentino-Cucine Lube 2-3, 2025 Coppa Italia Semifinal Match report

Match Summary. Itas Trentino recovered Kozamernik, but Fabio Soli preferred to confirm the starting six seen most frequently on the field recently: Sbertoli as setter, Rychlicki opposite, Michieletto and Lavia as hitters, Bartha and Flavio as centers, Laurenzano as libero; Cucine Lube responded with Boninfante as setter, Lagumdzija opposite, Loeppky and Bottolo in position 4, Chinenyeze and Gargiulo at center, Balaso as libero. The yellow-blues' start was all about Michieletto, who made the ace that reversed the initial trend (3-4 and then 5-5) sparking the break phase with another pipe (9-5). Medei called a timeout, but upon resumption, it was still Trento making the difference with their number 5 defending and then increasing the advantage with a tight diagonal attack (14-9). Cucine Lube tried to respond with Loeppky and Bottolo (15-13) and quickly found parity at 16; Trento wavered but did not give up, accepting the tug-of-war, inserting Gabi Garcia for Rychlicki and coming back up to +2 (22-20) again thanks to Michieletto. The Marchigiani immediately equalized and took the lead at 23-24; Michieletto again closed the gap and made the ace that won the set at the first set point (26-24).
The second set was also very balanced, with Cucine Lube immediately taking the lead (6-8), but quickly caught by Trento (11-10) with good input from Gabi Garcia, who remained on the field. Lagumdzija dealt the blow with attack and serve, creating a +3 for the Marchigiani (13-16); Soli called a timeout and upon resumption, Bartha with a first-time break point brought the two teams closer again. Itas Trentino equalized with Lavia, but the stalemate was short-lived as Cucine Lube surged forward (16-18 and 21-23), working well at the net. The yellow-blues climbed from 21-24 to 24-24 with Bartha and Lavia but had to give in on Boninfante's block that stopped Gabi Garcia for 24-26.
Riding the wave of enthusiasm, Cucine Lube impacted the third set better, moving from 6-6 to 6-9 thanks to Bottolo and an ace from Boninfante. Soli interrupted the game, but upon resumption, it was a solo from the opponents who, with Lagumdzija and, more generally, the service, created an unbridgeable gap (8-13 and 9-15). Magalini came in for Michieletto and also Acquarone for Sbertoli, along with Rychlicki, but the yellow-blue rally did not come. Instead, the Marchigiani quickly sped towards a 2-1, reaching it at 25-14.
Thanks mainly to their serving, Itas Trentino managed to regain momentum in the fourth set. Precise serves from Bartha, Gabi Garcia, and Lavia propelled the yellow-blue team to an 8-6 lead, and then to 11-7, forcing Medei to call a time-out. Upon resumption, Sbertoli defended the scratch (13-8), and Trento continued to accelerate (16-9 and then 20-13), before experiencing a pause that allowed Cucine Lube to get closer (20-16, Bottolo). Trento faced a serious risk under Nikolov's attacks (21-19 and 23-22) but finally closed the contest with Gabi Garcia and an ace from Michieletto (25-22).
In the tie-break, Itas Trentino quickly gained a double advantage (6-4), was caught up by the opponents at 8, but found a new breakthrough with Michieletto (11-9). The ace from the newly-entered Porya brought the score to 12-12 and then immediately after to 12-13. The match went to a sprint, and it was decided by an attack error from Bartha at 13-14.

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