This is the fourth and final confirmed player for ErmGroup Altotevere for the upcoming Credem Banca Serie A3 championship. Matteo Alpini from Prato, who turns 25 next August, will once again wear the white and blue jersey after a season, his first in the division and, more importantly, as a starter, which saw him undoubtedly stand out in position 4. His stats show 384 points scored (he only missed the match in Trebaseleghe due to fever, remaining on the bench without coming on), 17 aces, 19 blocks, and a conversion rate of nearly 45%; to be precise, we’re at 44.8%, with a good portion of shots placed from the second line: in fact, the Tuscan truly excelled in the pipes. He was ErmGroup’s second-best scorer behind Simone Marzolla, although he finished as the top scorer in more than one match. A few weeks ago, in the council chamber of the San Giustino Municipality, he was awarded the trophy as the team’s MVP of the season, and the club’s first major move was to retain him, as there was obviously no shortage of requests for him. “I don’t deny that I had a market for myself as a player,” Alpini emphasizes, “but ultimately, my interest was to remain in an environment I knew and that would build an even more competitive squad. That’s what happened, and so there was nothing better than staying in San Giustino.” Beyond the ErmGroup MVP award, he’s also satisfied with his overall personal performance from October to May. “I wasn’t as brilliant in a few games,” admits the Altotevere spiker, “but I expected that. Until last summer, I was part of the squad of an A2 team, with limited playing time for me; now, I would have tried my hand as a starter, regardless of the lower division. This is irrelevant, because it was normal for me to have to find consistency, and so my performances would have been mixed along the way.”
