The fourth attempt was the lucky one for Piacenza. Zlatanov and co had been chasing this league title for a long time and here it finally came at the end of a memorable tie-break of game 5 against Trentino. Piacenza has officially made it to the playoff history in this 64th championship. Never a team that finished fifth of the regular season had made it to the final and therefore never had it won the title. Time and time again, they faced their opponents without the court advantage: they got rid of the best team of the second half of the league, Perugia, in straight set, then knocked out the winner of the regular seaon, Macerata, before completing this amazing run with a 5-game victory over the European champs.
Many finals had ended bitterly but the city can now go wild and celebrate a real breakthrough.
The season had not been an easy one. Many problems, injuries came along the way, but the character of the group and coach Angelo Lorenzetti emerged. This is the second title for the coach following the one with Modena in 2002.
Except for Dante Boninfante, who won the title with Treviso, this is the first one for all the other players of Piacenza.
Here are the names of the new Italian champs: Michal Rak, Christian Pampel, Vito Insalata, Marco Meoni, Leonel Marshall, Michele Grassano, Dante Boninfante, Marco Zingaro, Hristo Zlatanov, Gianluca Durante, Joao Paolo Bravo, Christian Dunnes, Novica Bjelica
GAME 5
Itas Diatec Trentino – Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza 2-3 (25-21; 25-20; 21-25; 22-25; 13-15)
LEAGUE FINAL RESULTS
GAME 1
Itas Diatec Trentino – Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza 3-2 (25-18; 17-25; 21-25; 25-14; 17-15)
GAME 2
Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza – Itas Diatec Trentino 3-1 (25-21; 25-18; 20-25; 25-15)
GAME 3
Itas Diatec Trentino – Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza 2-3 (25-22; 13-25; 25-19; 23-25; 9-15)
GAME 4
Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza – Itas Diatec Trentino 0-3 (23-25; 11-25; 24-26)
GAME 5
Itas Diatec Trentino – Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza 2-3 (25-21; 25-20; 21-25; 22-25; 13-15)
2008/09 PLAYOFF DRAW
QUARTERS |
| SEMI FINALS |
| FINAL |
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1� � Macerata | 3 |
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3-0; 3-2; 3-1 |
| Lube Banca Marche MC | 2 |
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8� – Treviso | 0 |
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| 3-0; 2-3; 0-3; 3-0; 2-3 |
| Copra Nordmeccanica PC | 3 |
|
4� � Perugia | 0 |
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1-3; 1-3; 1-3 |
| Copra Nordmeccanica PC | 3 |
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5�- Piacenza | 3 |
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| 2-3; 3-1; 3-2; 0-3; 3-2 |
| Piacenza |
2� � Trento | 3 |
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| Champion |
3-2; 3-0; 3-2 |
| Itas Diatec Trentino | 3 |
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7� – Vibo Valentia | 0 |
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