Comunicato Stampa della Lega Pallavolo Serie A

Del Monte Italian Cup A1 Final Four

Perugia vs Piacenza the final

CUCINE LUBE BANCA MARCHE MACERATA – SIR SAFETY PERUGIA 2-3 (25-22, 18-25, 25-23, 23-25, 9-15) – CUCINE LUBE BANCA MARCHE MACERATA: Henno (L), Parodi 5, Zaytsev 18, Stankovic 9, Patriarca, Kovar 13, Monopoli 1, Giombini, Kurek 3, Baranowicz 2, Podrascanin 14. DNP Bulfon. Coach. Giuliani.

SIR SAFETY PERUGIA: Buti 9, Paolucci 1, Petric 21, Giovi (L), Cupkovic 1, Della Lunga, Mitic, Vujevic 6, Atanasijevic 34, Semenzato 10. DNP Della Corte, Barone, Fanuli. Coach. Kovac.

Perugia signed the first surprise of this cup final four by knocking off the league leaders of Macerata. They came back from a 2-1 deficit to make it into their first ever cup final. This was a very tight and thrilling encounter. In the tie break, Macerata struggled from the start and Perugia sprinted off to a 7-1 lead from which it was always going to be tough to recover.

MVP: Atanasijevic

Slobodan Kovac (Coach Sir Safety Perugia): “This was a carbon copy of the game played in Perugia. Mitic had been the killer and this time it was Atanasijevic and our block-dig department. I insisted on our outside hitter even when he was not going too well, but Petric played really well too. Everyone was brilliant, especially in the fourth set, they never gave up”.

Nemanja Petric (Sir Safety Perugia): “We wanted to play our best volley and that’s what we did. This was a real breakthrough because it’s not been easy by any means, now we just have to rest because it will be tough tomorrow”.

Simone Buti (Sir Safety Perugia): “I think we won the game in the fourth set. We found it really hard in that set but they faded at the end of it. We won it at the death and losing it that way has probably hurt them”.

Dragan Stankovic (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “Unfortunately, after the Champions League, here is another trophy slipping away from our grasp. We were against a team that played excellent volleyball and which is coming off a great run of positive results”.

COPRA ELIOR PIACENZA – DIATEC TRENTINO 3-1 (25-23, 24-26, 25-19, 25-21)

COPRA ELIOR PIACENZA: Marra (L), Le Roux, Papi 8, Fei 9, Kaliberda 17, Simon 13, Tencati, Vettori 20, De Cecco 3. Non entrati Partenio, Smerilli, Zlatanov, Husaj. All. Monti.

DIATEC TRENTINO: Birarelli 10, Solé 7, Ferreira 14, Suxho 1, Lanza 11, Sokolov 22, Colaci (L), Fedrizzi, Burgsthaler, Van Dijk 2. Non entrati Sintini, Thei, De Paola, Szabo, Nelli, Giannelli. All. Serniotti.

Piacenza earned the right to face Perugia in the Italian Cup final. Monti’s men will play a cup final for the second time following the one lost against Cuneo in 2006. MVP Vettori led the way with 20 points (3 aces and 2 blocks), well assisted by Denis Kaliberda (17 points, 57% in attack). As for Trento, Sokolov was impressive on his come-back with 22 points (2 aces and 3 blocks). Birarelli tallied 5 blocks and Solé registered an 88% in attack.

Luca Vettori (Copra Elior Piacenza): “The outcome was uncertain till the end, we did well never to give up an inch. In the fourth set, we had a couple more of break opportunities and we won it”.

Alessandro Fei (Copra Elior Piacenza): “Trento played very well. At times, we showed off some excellent serves and some good work at the net. Our serve kept them away from the net. And now, we’ll face Perugia. In one single game anything can happen, we’ll have to play as focused as tonight. It will tough again tomorrow”.

Sebastian Solé (Diatec Trentino): “It was tight but we had too many ups and downs. We were very close from the fifth set though”.

Alexandre Ferreira (Diatec Trentino). “Too many mistakes on the serve and we struggled on the counter. I think we lacked a bit of team spirit at the end of the third set and we lost our way in the fourth when things were not going our way. Then it was tough to get back in it”.

FINAL

Sunday March 9 at 5.30pm

Copra Elior Piacenza – Sir Safety Perugia Live on Rai Sport 1

(Boris-Gnani)

Video Check: Mastronicola – Assistant: Libardi