Gas Sales Bluenergy Volley Piacenza, after closing out the Scudetto playoff quarterfinals with a win in Game 5 against Modena and securing a spot in the semifinals, is back in the spotlight in Europe. Tomorrow, Thursday, April 2nd, at 8:00 PM (free live coverage on DAZN), they will take to the court at the already sold-out Sporta Dvorarana Tivoli in Ljubljana for the second leg of the CEV Volleyball Cup semifinals. Their opponents are Slovenian team ACH Volleyball Ljubljana, with Belgian Bjorn Willems and Macedonian Josip Hristov as referees.
The prize is a spot in the final of the tournament, the second most important in Europe at club level. The first leg was played last week at the PalabancaSport. Gas Sales Bluenergy Volley Piacenza won 3-2 (30-28, 25-20, 27-29, 20-25, 15-4). Tomorrow, the red and whites will qualify for the final with a win by any score. A 3-0 or 3-1 loss will advance to the Slovenians, and a 3-2 home win will result in a golden set.
Arriving in Ljubljana late yesterday afternoon, the red and whites completed a weights session in the gym this morning. A training session is scheduled for this afternoon at Sporta Dvorarana Tivoli, and a final training session is scheduled for tomorrow morning.
In the regular season of the Slovenian championship, ACH Volley Ljubljana finished first in the standings after 21 matches with 62 points, the result of 21 wins. Only one match ended in a tie break. And already ten days ago, they secured their spot in the semifinals of the Slovenian Championship with a 3-1 victory over Funizar Ravne (25-15, 25-19, 25-19) away from home. This was a one-off match instead of the two scheduled by the Slovenian Federation, designed to facilitate ACH Volleyball Ljubljana’s European campaign. The Slovenian team played their last match in Piacenza eight days ago.
In Europe, Ljubljana began the season in the CEV Champions League, playing in Group A alongside Trento, and finished third in their group, relegating to the CEV Volleyball Cup. In the quarterfinals, they defeated Turkish side Fenerbahçe by winning the first leg 3-2 (25-17, 21-25, 25-16, 23-25, 16-14) and the return leg played in Turkey by winning 3-1 (25-19, 19-25, 21-25, 16-25 for the Slovenians).
Gas Sales Bluenergy Volley Piacenza secured a spot in the CEV Volleyball Cup semifinals by defeating German team Berlin Reycling Volleys 3-0 in both the first and second legs.
This is the second time President Elisabetta Curti’s club has participated in the CEV Volleyball Cup: the first was in the 2022-2023 season, when they were eliminated in the semifinals by Knack Roeselare.
