While it would have been better to win (remember, they had five match points in the tie-break, which they didn’t take), even a 3-2 win wouldn’t have changed the situation much for ErmGroup Altotevere, meaning they won’t have to allow themselves even 10 seconds of distraction on Saturday, April 11th, against Sarlux Sarroch. The 2-3 first-leg scoreline further reinforces this notion, meaning the white-and-blues should still have sought the full victory they now need to advance to the playoff semifinals of the Credem Banca Serie A3 championship. The match footage showed that the element of unpredictability plays a major role and that those who had assigned a 50% chance each were right. If Biffi and his teammates win 3-2, they’ll go to a golden set, a first for both ErmGroup and the San Giustino sports hall, a facility that on Saturday (play at 9 p.m.) will have to transform itself into a sort of extra man to propel coach Bartolini’s team. The events in Sardinia, however, fuel some regrets, as assistant coach Mirko Monaldi emphasizes: “It was a beautiful battle, a competitive one, of course,” begins Marco Bartolini’s assistant, “that they won, but that we could have also won. Now we’ll have to put our heart and soul into it: the outcome remains wide open, and even if the golden set were to decide, we’re still playing at home, which in my opinion is of no small importance.” Regarding the many facets of the match, which initially seemed to be in Altotevere’s hands, then in the hands of the home team, and finally settled into a tie until the 20-18 score in the fifth set, Monaldi has his opinion: “Let’s be frank, we threw away the second set. We were up 18-13, and they found the decisive card in Iannaccone at that point, to the point that the situation turned in their favor.”
