OmiFer Palmi emerges defeated but with their heads held high from the first semi-final of the Corigliano-Rossano quadrangular of Codex and Castello, the azzurro-oro are overcome 3-1 by Lazio’s Cisterna Volley (25-20, 25-23, 23- 25, 25-16).
Cisterna thus enters the final, where it will meet Gioiella Prisma Taranto, while the Palmi team will have to face Hebar Volley in the 3rd/4th place final tomorrow at 5pm.

Overall, the performance of the Azzurri-Gold was very positive and, despite facing a Super League team, they were able to express a volleyball of the highest caliber.

Stabrawa (23 points) and Corrado (12 points) are the best scorers of the Calabrians, while for the Lazio team the top scorer of the match stands out: Faure (24 points), Mazzone and Ramon (16 points).

The start of the match was characterized by total balance between the two teams. Balance that is broken at 15-15, when Cisterna scores three consecutive points, thus managing to gain a margin of advantage that will allow them to manage and win the set.

The second set develops along the lines of the first, with Palmi still pushing hard on the accelerator, but without being able to be brilliant at the end, where at 23-23 he squanders the wonderful opportunity to bring himself back to parity, first with Stabrawa who shoots out a ball well replayed by Palmesi and then with Saitta serving Faure several times until he finds the winning conclusion from the second line which closes the score and puts Cisterna at 2-0.

But Palmi, as we know, is not a team that is easily discouraged. In the third set Cisterna slows down the pace, while Palmi continues to hammer with his main guns. Cisterna reacts at 12-8 for the Calabrians and regains parity. From here on, the set turns into a real back-and-forth, with the Lazio team leading up to 20-17 and then being overtaken by the Calabrian team.
This time, however, at 23-23, fate smiles on Palmi: Mazzone’s mid-goal strike and Faure’s out attack, Palmi’s crowd explodes.

The fourth set was immediately taken over by Cisterna Volley who moved ahead 11-7. The reaction from the Palmi players does not arrive and the Lazio players manage to close the set with a large advantage.

SCORESHEET

PALMS: Cottarelli 1, Giuliani (L), Iovieno, Gitto 4, Donati (L) ne, Amato ne, Stabrawa 23, Maccarone, Russo, Corrado 12, Rau 4, Pellegrino, Carbone 3. Coach: D’Amico

TANK: De Santis (L), Tosti ne, Finauri 8, Anellucci, Giani, Ramon 16, Saitta 1, Gabriel ne, Piccinelli (L), Faure 24, Rossi 11, Czerwinski, Mazzone 16, Bayram ne, Nedeljokvic ne, Peric neither. Coach: Falasca