Same opponents, same story, one year later. Negrini CTE Acqui Terme and Domotek Reggio Calabria, just like last season, will face off in the semifinals of the Serie A3 playoffs. However, the route, roster, and championship format are different. Last year, in which the Acqui Terme team prevailed, everything was decided in Game 3, which is not scheduled this year.
There will be only one home-and-away match; the only hypothetical final involves a best-of-three promotion. After an up-and-down regular season in which they only qualified for the playoffs on the final day with a sixth-place finish in the white group, the Calabrian team demonstrated their potential in the playoffs by eliminating JV Gioia del Colle and BCC Tecbus Castellana Grotte.
The Calabrian team, strong in their first place in the blue group, faced the white group leaders, Conad Reggio Emilia, who achieved promotion after five matches. However, the Reggio Calabria team, also against Reggio Emilia, won both the Coppa Italia and the Serie A3 Super Cup last Sunday.
Mical Petras, one of the key players in recent matches, commented on the match preparation: “Reggio Calabria is a team that didn’t get this far by chance: they’ve had an extraordinary season, winning both the Coppa Italia and the Serie A3 Super Cup, and they came within a whisker of promotion in the play-off against Reggio Emilia. We know they’re a very strong team, with potential they’ve already amply demonstrated on several occasions this season. For our part, we’re preparing for this match as best we can. We expect a real battle on the pitch and, above all, we’re counting on the support of our great fans.”
