PIACENZA two sets away from reaching #CEVCupM Playoff round

On Wednesday night, Gas Sales Bluenergy PIACENZA emerged victorious in a ‘heated’ Pabellon de Los Pajaritos in Soria, securing a 3-1 (20-25, 20-25, 25-23, 17-25) victory against hosts Rio Duero SORIA to make a step forward towards reaching the Playoff round of the men’s CEV Volleyball Cup. In the return leg, scheduled at PalabancaSport on Wednesday, January 28, the Biancorossi will ‘only’ need to win two sets to advance further in the competition. 

There was great support from the home fans, with three Red-and-White fans in the stands: a girl from Piacenza who lives in Spain and two ‘Lupi Biancorossi’ from Reggio Emilia.

It was an intense match, with Gas Sales Bluenergy doing well not to lose their composure when they found themselves three points down in the first set and even better at keeping their opponents in their sights. They took complete control in the second set once they reached parity at thirteen-all, while in the third set, the Biancorossi suffered at the hands of the Spaniards, finding themselves six points behind, but they came close to completing a terrific comeback. The fourth set was uneventful, with Alessandro Bovolenta and his teammates completely dominating the scene. 

At the start of the match, coach Boninfante opted for a starting line-up including setter Paolo Porro and opposite Bovolenta, middle blockers Francesco Comparoni and Daniel Iyegbekedo, outside hitters Ramazan Efe Mandiraci and José Miguel Gutierrez Suarez, and Luca Loreti as libero. In addition to the absences of Gianluca Galassi and Robertlandy Simon, Henri Leon also did not travel, remaining in Piacenza after catching a cold. The Spanish team responded with Lucas Lorente Lopez and Juan Pablo Moreno Mosquera as setter and opposite, middlemen Joan Domenech Tous and Azzdin Mimoun Chakrani, outside hitters Viktor Lindberg and Omar David Hoyos Mejias, and Arnau Masia Porres as libero.

Dante Boninfante, head coach of PIACENZA: “This was an important victory ahead of the return match, which we will play at home on a court we know very well. My players did well to adapt to a venue where visibility was very poor. I am happy with the attitude I saw, but we need to improve a few things. I would like to see the team push hard in every situation, which was not the case at the end of the fourth set. We got off to a terrible start in the third set, but we did well to recover, although it was not enough to complete our comeback. It is understandable to have difficulties in an unfamiliar arena, and the most important thing is that we got the result we wanted.”