Five trophies and four silver medals. History tells us that Vibo Valentia and Bergamo are two realities accustomed to calling the Del Monte Coppa Italia “you”. The clash that could have been a final in terms of coat of arms, prestige and values ​​will instead be worth the continuation of the path towards the conquest of the trophy for one of the two. Tomorrow at 8pm at the PalaMaiata, Agnelli Tipiesse will try to oust the very favorite Tonno Callipo from the competition, stopping her race as already happened in the championship on December 17th: at the PalaIntred from 0-2 to 3-2. The team coached by Douglas is currently +9 in the standings (38 points against 27), first against fourth or the same positions occupied by the contenders at the halfway point. Just scroll through the roll of honor to give even more prestige to the super challenge. The Calabrians wrote their name three times, winning as many tie-breaks: in 2002/2003 against Lamezia with sporting director Vito Insalata in the field (who would later win the A2 tournament with Tonno Callipo), in 2014/2015 the Volley Potentino of coach Gianluca Graziosi and the following year winning over Sora; on the other side of the net, triumphs in the two-year period with the mix of A2 and A3 over Brescia in 2020 and over Porto Viro in 2021. Two each, however, are the second places: hosts overtaken by Verona in 2004 and 2008, guests from Civita Castellana and Piacenza in 2018 and 2019. In the quarterfinals, on 29 December, Vibo eliminated Cuneo, finalist of the last edition, with a dry 3-0 and Bergamo did the same by liquidating Grottazzolina. The last to put the Italian Cup on the bulletin board, in 2022, was Reggio Emilia led by Roberto Cominetti (MVP of the final act) and by Tim Held.

“The beauty of the Italian Cup – explains the spiker born in 1998 – is that every season is different from the previous one. Last year with Reggio Emilia we faced our opponents with humility and a free arm, two essential cornerstones also for facing Vibo. They are the team to beat, we are different from the first part of the season. We also showed it on Sunday against Ravenna because, even without expressing excellent volleyball on a technical level, we managed to bring out our character and to overturn, in the third set, a situation that seemed compromised. So tomorrow we will do everything to put these characteristics into play. The important thing is to give everything to crown the dream of the final”.