Inevitable lights and shadows for the ErmGroup San Giustino after the joint training in Macerata, the first outing of the biancazzurri which came after almost a month of preparation even if the libero and captain Marra and the Polish spiker Wawrzynczyk were absent from the group for physical reasons, replaced in training by Cioffi and Skuodis. At the Banca Macerata Forum the locals won the first three sets, then a fourth was played with the revolutionized formations which saw the ErmGroup prevail, it being understood that in this period every result leaves the time it finds. Banca Macerata, opponent of coach Marco Bartolini’s team in the Blue group of the Serie A3 Credem Banca championship, demonstrated all its solidity as a team, despite the absence of central defenders Sanfilippo and Orazi; the hosts were already ahead at the start in both halves, with the difference that in the first San Giustino recovered until giving up the advantage (24-26), while in the second Maurizio Castellano’s team held the margin until closing on 25-19. The third set was tight and very long, again resolved by the Marche players 32-30, while in the fourth – agreed upon by the two coaches and with the young players on the pitch – it was ErmGroup who took the lead and made it theirs 25-19. If we really want to mention the performances of the individuals, however conditioned by the preparation loads, the opposite Simone Marzolla deserves a mention with his high percentage of achievement. “We started with the handbrake on: the last real match was the one on April 2 – recalls coach Marco Bartolini – so the lack of rhythm and intensity was evident. We made many mistakes, but I also saw good things and other ideas to work on; after all, we expected it, because Mirko Monaldi and I were almost unable to field the full team during training due to the physical ailments that occurred during the preparation phase. In any case, the match was approached with the right spirit, even if I detected too many errors in the service and little ability to resolve for the moment the systematic error that had been created, especially with the jumping servers.
