Trentino Advanced To The Semifinals, Jastrzebski Took A Crucial Victory in Straight Sets

By defeating their opponents in the first clashes of the #CLVolleyM semifinals, Trentino and Jastrzebski are one step closer to advancing to the SuperFinals. Being aware of this, they took the court in their domestic leagues in quite crucial clashes, and both of them took straight-set victories.

The champions of the regular season in Italian SuperLega, Itas Trentino, faced Valsa Group Modena in the third leg of the quarterfinal round. From the first ball to the last, Trentino side clearly showed a superior performance and became victorious in three sets (3-0: 25-22, 25-19, 25-21).

Italian outside hitter Daniele Lavia was the most productive player with 17 points, including two aces, with Luxembourgian opposite Kamil Rychlicki by 16. Thanks to this victory, Trentino booked their ticket in the semifinals and started to wait for their opponent in the next round.

Things also went quite well for the other #CLVolleyM semifinalist of the country, Cucine Lube Civitanova. They played against Mint Vero Volley Monza in the third round of the quarterfinal match. Both teams had so many ups and downs throughout the game, and the score was tied to 2-2 after four sets. Lube then took the lead in the tie-break set, and with a strong win (3-2: 21-25, 30-28, 21-25, 25-22, 15-11), they kept their domestic goals alive.

Bulgarian outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov (13 points, one ace, and one block) and Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija (12 points, one block) helped their team in this important victory. Monza still has a 2-1 lead in the matchup, but we will all see what the fourth game will bring.

The Polish CEV Champions League Volley semifinalist Jastrzebski Wegiel faced their closest follower, Projekt Warszawa, in the 26th leg of the Polish PlusLiga. The result was very important in the sense of understanding the main round leader. Knowing that fact, the Jastrzebski side pushed their limits from the first to the last and beat their biggest rival by a score of 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-23).

Polish outside hitter Rafal Szymura was selected as the Most Valuable Player thanks to his 15-point performance, including four blocks and two aces. Artur Szalpuk tallied 14 points on the losing side. Now, the gap between these two has increased to eight points, which will be hard for Warszawa to close.

Turkish #CLVolleyM semifinalist Ziraat Bank Ankara had quite a comfortable weekend. They visited Alanya Belediyespor in the 25th round of the Turkish Efeler League. There was a massive dominance of the Ziraat side in the game, and they won the battle in three sets (3-0: 25-19, 25-20, 25-16). Now, all they have to do is to focus on the rematch against Jastrzebski to continue their way in the most elite competition in Europe.

It was quite a good weekend for all of the #CLVolleyM semifinalists, and they definitely used this opportunity to see how they could improve their game as well. We will see if Trentino and Jastrzebski will use their advantage to advance to the SuperFinals or if Ziraat and Lube will make an important comeback.