A thriving Campi Reali Cantù missed out on the Sferc Trophy against a solid Gruppo Consoli Sferc Brescia, who managed to withstand Cantù’s comeback attempts and win 3-1 in today’s joint practice session at the PalaFiera in Lumezzane (BS).
Coach Alessio Zingoni started with Luca Martinelli at setter, Gaetano Penna at opposite hitter, Nikolay Ivanov and Andrea Bacco at spikers, Gabriele Maletto and Gioele Taiwo at middle blockers, and Luca Butti at libero. Coach Zingoni rotated all of the team’s players throughout the sets.
Gruppo Consoli Sferc quickly took a lead at the start of the first set (11-3), but Campi Reali came back behind (16-13, 21-19), and managed to turn the score around in the final minutes (23-25). Brescia also took the lead in the second set (7-2), while Cantù remained in the lead (18-13) but were unable to complete the comeback (25-17). The hosts’ run to 18-9 in the third set was more gradual, but still unstoppable for the visitors, despite a late comeback (25-20). In the fourth set, Brescia quickly broke away (9-3, 13-4), and Cantù’s attempts at a comeback were in vain (25-11).
A strong serving performance (4 aces, 2 from Pertoldi, against 13 errors) offset a slight decline in blocking (5 aces today, 2 each from Taiwo and Maletto). Reception percentages remained steady (49% successful and 24% perfect), while attacking percentages dropped (38% today).
