In preparation for the upcoming crucial matches on two separate fronts of the Serie A3 Credem Banca championship, ErmGroup Altotevere and Terni Volley Academy held a joint training session on the afternoon of Thursday, April 16th, at the San Giustino sports hall. It was yet another test of the season between the two teams representing Umbria in the category, and it reaffirmed the excellent relationship that exists between their respective clubs. On Sunday the 19th, Terni will play Game 4 of the playoffs at home against Monge Gerbaudo Savigliano, who are ahead 2-1 in the series. A victory is therefore essential for Cristiano Camardese’s team to avoid relegation and secure a possible tiebreaker in Piedmont. ErmGroup will have a longer wait, returning to the field on Saturday the 25th for the first leg of the playoff semifinal against Belluno. The two coaches obviously experimented with various solutions in terms of both players and play, starting with their starting sixes: the Terni team proved to be tonic with an ever-threatening Martinez and won by a narrow margin (25-23) in the first set, while in the second Altotevere’s supremacy was clear, as evidenced by the partial score of 25-12. The third set was more closely fought and exciting, with the two teams alternating in the lead until ErmGroup reached 25-23, which then closed the fourth set at 25-22 – and therefore 3-1 – a set characterised almost exclusively by the second lines. “An interesting test,” commented Altotevere assistant coach Mirko Monaldi, “that we ourselves wanted, because Terni has a strong style of play from a technical and qualitative standpoint: they tend to extend the play and can count on quality players even in the main positions, such as the setter, who distributes the ball well. Not only that, sessions like this only raise the level of training, if only because you maintain match rhythm. If we then analyze what we saw on the court, the only logic that didn’t prevail was that of the standings. We’re fighting for two different objectives, but frankly, this difference wasn’t noticeable. In fact, Terni won the first set and I’m sure they’ll play their cards right down to the last ball on Sunday. We rotated all the available players, because going two weeks without a real match could be dangerous: we gave some instructions and something was seen even from nine meters, with variations designed to create a different playing system.
