It’s the day after a match that left its mark: Sir Susa Scai Perugia secured their spot in the Scudetto final, having won a best-of-five series against Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, settling the score in three games.
Their advancement to the final was secured at the end of a match that for long stretches provided a great technical spectacle, but also an adrenaline rush, for the PalaBarton crowd.
A clear 3-0 victory, but intensely fought in a match that, especially in the first set, featured constant changes of direction, between runs and connections. Sebastian Solè confirmed this last night, returning to the starting lineup after an absence due to physical problems. He expressed his enthusiasm for reaching the final, emphasizing how this result is the fruit of the team’s hard work since the beginning of the season: “First of all, I’m happy that we’re taking Perugia to the Scudetto final. I think they deserve it. We deserve it because we’ve worked so hard to get to this point, and from the beginning we’ve always said we have to go all the way. This time, we’re in a great position, and we’re there with the Champions League. We’re here, and then this was a series in which we faced a team that was certainly playing better in that phase. It’s true that they had an absence, but in my opinion, if we had played ‘badly,’ perhaps we would have lost. So, aside from their absences, I think we played well, because we were also down in some sets, and I’ll take that, what we did.”
The reference is especially to the first set, in which the Emilian team, now with their backs to the wall in the series, started off with a loose start, with nothing left to lose, and led for long stretches, until they had three set points at the end. There, the Block Devils said “no”! Reversing three set points and extending the set to advantage, finally taking it after a thrilling point-by-point game: “Certainly, when the team works towards the same goal, these things happen: maybe you’re behind, you almost lost the set, and then instead we won it. When the team is in good shape, connected, these things can happen. Winning that first set gave us great confidence to move forward in the match!”
