Atripalda stops Città di Castello in the Del Monte cup final
Del Monte Italian Cup Serie A2: Final
Gherardi SVI Città di Castello – Sidigas Atripalda 1-3 (23-25, 26-28, 25-17, 23-25)
GHERARDI SVI CITTà DI CASTELLO – SIDIGAS ATRIPALDA 1-3 (23-25, 26-28, 25-17, 23-25)
GHERARDI SVI CITTà DI CASTELLO: Franceschini 3, Fromm 14, Carminati, Massari, Visentin 1, Rosalba 17, Piano 8, Van Walle 19, Braga 1, Tosi (L). DNP Lensi, Grasso, Sartoretti. Coach. Radici.
SIDIGAS ATRIPALDA: Cazzaniga 20, Candellaro 15, Di Marco 14, Cortina (L), Scappaticcio 3, Izzo 1, Libraro 18, Gabriele 1, Cavaccini, D’angelo 7. DNP De Paola, Mrdak, Bassi. Coach. Totire.
Big upset in Assago’s Mediolanum Forum in the cup final. Atripalda lifted the trophy aloft by handing Città di Castello its first defeat of the season. Indeed, they had won 13 in a row between league and cup. This was also the first ever cup triumph for Atripalda in its history, which came at the end of a long hard-fought game which lasted over two hours. Totire’s boys especially shined in dig and at the net with 13 blocks, of which 11 in the first two sets. Cazzaniga was called upon on 64 attacks and finished top scorer, while the excellent performance of libero Tosi (78% in reception) was not enough for Città di Castello, who only had 36% in attack. MVP: Mario Scappaticcio.
Michele Totire (coach Sidigas Atripalda): “I am obviously thrilled, this was one of our targets and we went all the way. In the third set we had a hard time, more of a mental problem than physical, and I asked for patience in the fourth. The key to the game was mainly Scappaticcio’s performance, he did a great job to free the middle blockers and then D’Angelo in the fourth set, Cazzaniga’s percentages in attack have been low but the block-dig of Città di Castello did well to contain him”.
Mario Scappaticcio (Sidigas Atripalda): “We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. We knew Città di Castello had to lose one game one day or another. That went close in the semi-final against Molfetta, while we came in Milan without anything to lose”.
Andrea Radici (coach Gherardi SVI Città di Castello): “It’s obvious that this defeat really hurts. We needed to get a feel of this big events. But we’re happy with what we’ve done so far, right now is not the time of analysis but fair play: congratulations to the opponent for their victory”.
Simone Rosalba (Gherardi SVI Città di Castello): “Unfortunately, our first defeat of the season came in this final. We were extremely tense and you could see it. They played better than us, we tried to fight back but we made too many mistakes in the fourth and could not make it into the tie-break. This loss will give us indication on the work to be done to start over in the league: we are not invincible”.
Italian Cup Serie A2: Past winners
1997/98 Sira Falconara
1998/99 Cosmogas Forlì
1999/00 Della Rovere Carifano
2000/01 Pony Express Kappa Torino
2001/02 Copra Piacenza
2002/03 Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
2003/04 Marmi Lanza Verona
2004/05 Codyeco Santa Croce
2005/06 Salento d’amare Taviano
2006/07 Sparkling Milano
2007/08 Marmi Lanza Verona
2008/09 Andreoli Latina
2009/10 M. Roma Volley
2010/11 NGM Mobile Santa Croce
2011/12 BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte
2012/13 SIDIGAS ATRIPALDA
