Del Monte® Italian Cup SuperLega. 1st semi-final
DHL Modena-Sir Safety Conad Perugia 3-1 (20-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-22)
DHL MODENA – SIR SAFETY CONAD PERUGIA 3-1 (20-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-22) – DHL MODENA: Mossa De Rezende 6, Petric 9, Rossini (L), Ngapeth 22, Nikic 1, Piano 3, Bossi, Saatkamp 18, Vettori 10, Sighinolfi. DNP Donadio, Soli, Casadei, Sartoretti. Coach. Lorenzetti.
SIR SAFETY CONAD PERUGIA: Buti 5, Fromm 12, De Cecco, Kaliberda 12, Giovi (L), Atanasijevic 20, Fanuli, Birarelli 9. DNP Holt, Dimitrov, Tzioumakas, Elia, Franceschini. Coach. Kovac.
Modena is the first team to qualify for the Del Monte® Italian Cup final thanks to a 3-1 win coming back from 1-0 down against Perugia. Lorenzetti’s men made it at the end of four splendid sets in which Perugia did absolutely everything possible to repeat the feat achieved two years ago in Bologna. Trailing one set to nil, Modena reacted with Ngapeth and Lucas showing the way in attack.
Angelo Lorenzetti (coach DHL Modena): “We knew it was going to be a tough game. We were up against a great team and we had a lot of pressure. The boys did a great job of getting back in it after a poor first set. The two teams gave their fan a really entertaining game. Now we have to focus on tomorrow’s encounter, a final at the highest level”.
Bruno Mossa De Rezende (DHL Modena): “We are extremely motivated and focused for tomorrow’s game. We had a bad first set against Perugia but it has to be said they have a great team, we all know that. Now we are in the final, we want to defend the title won last season and make our supporters go wild”.
Aleksandar Atanasijevic (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “We have lost against a team that is playing better than us right now. They play some top quality dig and at times they make just terrific plays. We tried our best, we gave it a great fight, but that was not enough”.
Emanuele Birarelli (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “We’re going out heads high, but we’re disappointed because the Italian Cup was one of our targets and we couldn’t make it. We made it hard for them, we managed to contain Vettori, who’s one of their central figures. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop their other spikers. But I think we’re on the right track, we have to work to execute better the key things that will make us win against the top teams”.
