Trento, 22 February 2025

Itas Trentino-Cucine Lube Civitanova 3-1, the match report

The match report. Three days after the victory over Cisterna, Itas Trentino takes the field with the same starting six: Sbertoli as setter, Rychlicki as opposite, Michieletto and Lavia as outside hitters, Flavio and Bartha as middle blockers, Laurenzano as libero. Civitanova responds with Boninfante as setter, Nikolov as opposite, Poriya and Loeppky as outside hitters, Tenorio and Gargiulo as middle blockers, and Bisotto as libero. The home team starts strong with their serving: aces by Bartha and Sbertoli (two), quickly put them ahead (6-3 and 8-4); the guests, with an unusual lineup, suffer under Trento's determination, so much that at 12-5, after a Nikolov error at the net, coach Medei has already used up his time-outs. Subsequently, Cucine Lube improves in side-out phase (13-8), but the yellow-blues never let them come too close (18-10 and 20-11). The 1-0 home score arrives quickly, already at 25-14 with Bartha shining also in blocking and attacking.
The team from the Marche region tries to respond at the start of the second set (3-6 and 6-9), taking advantage of a slow start by Trento, who suffers in reception and makes too many serving errors. Soli stops the game but has to wait for Flavio's block at 9-11 to see the first real reaction from his team; an error by Nikolov brings the teams into close contact again (12-13), and they fight point by point for a long time (15-16) before an out attack by Poriya levels the score at 18. Itas Trentino takes the lead with a fortunate ace by Rychlicki, helped by the net for 21-20, but Lube doesn't give up and with Poriya takes the lead again (22-23, Soli calls a time-out). In the end, the guests prevail with a break point by Nikolov on the first set ball (23-25).
The script doesn't change in the third set, with the Cucine Lube starting better (3-4 and 6-8) thanks to serves and counterattacks. After the timeout, Itas Trentino recovers with Rychlicki and Flavio (9-8), but Lube doesn't give in and gains a new +2 lead with Nikolov (11-13). Trento catches up with Rychlicki (block for 13-all), but Nikolov pushes them back to -2 (14-16); Lavia steps up with a splendid ace at the corner of position 1 to revive the home team. The Calabrian hitter also closes the next +1 (20-19), setting the stage for the first point in the standings, which goes to the yellow-blues thanks to Rychlicki's effort (25-23).
The European Champions are determined to secure all the points at stake and start strong in the following set (6-3, 9-4), with Rychlicki and Michieletto shining. Medei calls a timeout, but when play resumes, Itas Trentino keeps their opponents at a safe distance (14-10) with a solid phase of transition play. Kozamernik lands a decisive blow (18-13), then Rychlicki protects the advantage (21-16, 25-19) for the final 3-1 victory.

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