“A really awful game” said coach Fenoglio at the end of the encounter lost at the tie-break in Catania.

Valera and co started off in the worst possible way in the first two sets, even though we could be telling a totally different story if they had taken the first set, lost 31-33. On the contrary, they dominated the third and fourth, with Gemmi and Libraro standing out. In a fifth set, in which the tiredness was obvious, Catania had the final word being more composed in the clutch time.