Of the evening of Sunday 21 April, and of the 3-0 defeat given to Emma Villas by an enthusiastic Yuasa Battery, not only the result remains, although very important. Indeed, what remains, more than anything else, is the overwhelming enthusiasm of an audience and a territory that truly responded en masse to an event which, regardless of what the final outcome will be, already has a history to it. “We are happy – coach Massimiliano Ortenzi quickly reveals – because we didn’t expect to be able to play this type of match, instead we were very good at holding up at the beginning, then at a certain point in the match we picked up a rhythm, especially on serve. There we made the difference, earning ourselves many opportunities and, even when we didn’t show our best game, we were clear on the pitch. Nothing to say, we played an excellent match.”
All the members of the roster, even those who took over during the race, did so with the right attitude, an important sign in view of the next events. Beyond Breuning on the ball, the unstoppable and awarded MVP of the match, we saw a Yuasa Battery who was able to react and strike at the right moments, compared to the last appearance with Siena in the regular season in which there were some important missed passes : “We told ourselves that we have to be in the matches and in this final – continues the coach – and we have to enjoy it because not everyone gets to be able to take part in this stage. We have to enjoy it to the hilt and that means doing everything it takes to try to win. Doing it here tonight was special, spine-chilling.”
General emotion from the public, starting from Mayor Antognozzi to the many friends and fans who have followed this adventure over the years. However, this final series is still far from over, and the leader of Grottazzolina is very cautious in this sense: “The playoffs are strange, winning a match doesn’t count because now we will have to go to Siena, to their house and it will be a whole another game. We’re going to win, clearly, but with the awareness that we have a further chance here at Palagrotta for a possible Game 3. We need to be clear-headed in facing this moment, I know it’s difficult but we have to stay focused and think about the present and do it with what has distinguished us to date, namely the desire to never stop.”
