His 25 points cemented him as ErmGroup Altotevere’s man of the match in Belluno, but it’s clear that when the team loses, even a substantial personal contribution fades into the background. Matteo Alpini himself is the first to admit it, although he deserves credit for his performance on Sunday, when he made his debut in the Credem Banca Serie A3 championship (though he’s already experienced Serie A2) and wore the white and blue jersey. “We were definitely expecting a tough match,” said the 24-year-old spiker from Emma Villas Siena, “because the quality of our opponents was unquestionable. We faced a solid team, one of the contenders for the final victory, but I feel we started aggressively, playing our game right from the start. In the first set, we made more mistakes than them; in the second, we showed great character, allowing us to turn the tables from 16-19 and close out the match in our favor; in the third, we ran into a sort of blackout, and in the fourth, we were there until the end.
