The return round of the Regular Season opens at the Eurosuole Forum with face-to-face match 18 between Cucine Lube Civitanova and Gioiella Prisma Taranto, who returned to compete in the top flight after 11 years last season. Sunday 18 December, at 6 pm (live on Rai Sport, Volleyball TV and Radio Arancia) the red and white will chase the sixth consecutive victory between the CEV Champions League and SuperLega Credem Banca.
History
In the previous 17 matches, Lube had the better of 14 occasions, winning 44 sets out of 64, while Taranto won 3 times. On Sunday the red and whites will try to maintain their internal unbeaten run in direct clashes with Prisma.
The last crossings
In the first round of the current season the cooks conquered the PalaMazzola with the maximum difference at the end of three hard-fought sets (23-25, 23-25, 21-25) and decided by the great character of the Italian champions, capable of significant comebacks with great personality. In the last championship, Civitanova and Taranto crossed paths twice, always in the Regular Season. On the 10th day of the first leg, the sextet from the Marche strolled within the friendly walls (25-20, 25-21, 25-12) in the match with the highest margin in favor of Lube (22 points), while in the second round, the men of Chicco Blengini had to win two arms wrestling in the first and third sets to prevail (26-28, 19-25, 23-25).
Challenges to remember
The hardest-fought meeting between the two teams dates back to the 11th return day of 2006/07, with 221 points in the game won in a tie-break by Lube (25-22, 28-26, 22-25, 18-25, 16-14). The two tightest sets, on the other hand, are equally divided between the two teams. Taranto boasts the 30-32 with which he opened the first day of the Serie A1 2000/01 away championship, even if Lube then managed to come back and win 3-1 (30-32, 25-19, 25-18, 25 -23). The cooks, on the other hand, scored 32-30 in the first set in the 10th second leg of 2007/08, a prelude to a clear 3-0 victory (32-30, 25-23, 25-16).
The easiest set won by Lube was the third in the match of the 11th second leg 2006/07 in Martina: the Cucinieri reacted with a 7-25 of anger to the first two partials lost, even if Prisma then managed to prevail 3- 1.
