Itas Trentino beat Lube Civitanova in match-1 of the fairer championship final

At the end of match five of the two semifinals of the Superlega volleyball playoffs, it is easy to have thought that Lube Civitanova and Itas Trentino was the right final for the Scudetto. This is because Trento and Civitanova are the teams, together with Perugia who were unexpectedly eliminated in the quarter-finals, which were initially considered stronger and more complete and because the players who make up the rosters – that is, the team lists – are important names that boast international trophies. Civitanova plays its sixth consecutive final and is looking for the fourth Scudetto in five years, Trento reaches the Scudetto final again after six years, and this year it has already played and lost in the Coppa Italia and the Club World Cup. Itas Trentino started the scudetto series with a 3-1 victory after a long and very balanced match which offered an excellent volleyball show. In short, a game-1 that makes you want to see game-2 which will be played on Thursday.

Trento is a mature team and has kept its game at a high level more consistently than others. It didn’t even disunite in the moment of maximum performance in Piacenza, that is after the first set of game five that Yuri Romanò and his associates dominated 18-25 with 58 percent of winning attacks. It’s a team that shows and says what it wants, with a top-level mentality. In particular, Sbertoli, the setter from Trento, in the interview after match five referred to the fact that “Trentino volleyball is always there and it’s not for everyone, we work for this and we will work to take one more step” he said, referring to the many finals that the team has played in the last two years. Angelo Lorenzetti, the coach who will no longer sit on the Trento bench next year, in answering a question about the Scudetto final just won, said “I’m happy for the boys, because they won next year’s Champions League” (the two finalists are qualified together with the winner of the final for third place), once again highlighting the importance that Trento gives to its objectives, to its steps, which from the outside may seem taken for granted.

On the other hand, there is Lube Civitanova, who played the bad guy, winning over a Milan that had won, already with the feat against Perugia, the support that a sporting movement inevitably grants to the underdog of the moment who wins against the greatest. Matteo Piano, smiling despite the defeat, said: “We felt so much about being the team that made everyone dream a little”. Civitanova has enormous potential in attack and relies heavily on Aleksandar Nikolov, this season’s surprise, and Marlon Yant, the latter watershed in game four with 70 percent effectiveness in attack and 26 points, but when these are missing, he can resort tried-and-tested solutions with great confidence like Simone Anzani, who was also decisive in game four, especially blocking, and Ivan Zaytsev, who has an excellent understanding with setter Luciano De Cecco.

Milan had managed to take advantage of Civitanova’s moments of lack of balance and ineffectiveness, at the same time raising the level of performance of its protagonists, setter Paolo Porro and winger Yuki Ishikawa above all, authors of a great playoff phase.

Both Itas Trentino and Lube Civitanova are great teams, which manage to shift “the momentum” to their side even when they seem to be in more difficulty; they have what the same protagonists defeated in the semifinals are unable to define in any other way than “something more” that allows them to play the final of the most difficult volleyball championship in the world.

For now, Itas has the advantage. Thursday we play again.