Italian Men: Modena Falls To Kioene Padova Without Earvin Ngapeth

Round 13 in the Italian men’s league saw five road wins, including Kioene Padova over Azimut Modena amid controversy with the team’s leading player Earvin Ngapeth and his brother Swan Ngapeth.

The lack of Earvin is a struggle for the team, though the team has a number of star players lining their roster like Bruno Rezende, Max Holt, Maarten Van Garderen and Tine Urnaut. Earvin’s controversy began as he had a falling out with the team’s head coach Radostin Stoytchev after strict team rules would not allow the Ngapeth brothers to travel to France follow one of their matches. Earvin is signed with the team through the 2020 season and recently, Modena has announced they will take disciplinary actions against the brothers for their actions.

Round 13 Scores

*Winners are bolded

Diatec Trentino has continued their winning streak with a four-set win over Gi Group Monza behind 20 points from Uros Kovacevic. Nicholas Hoag added another 17 points while Luca Vettori contributed 13 points.

Biosi Indexa Sora won just their third match of the year over Vibo Valentia in three sets. Dusan Petkovic led the team with 19 points while Rasmus Breuning Nielsen added another 15. Vibo Valentia’s President Pippo Callipo was disappointed with his team come the beginning of the third set, leaving the stadium and not finishing out the remainder of the match. Following the match, he made a statement that was summed up as “I understood that we were going to meet a defeat. It’s a team that is not a team.”

BCC Castellana Grotte made a comeback win over Cucine Lube Civitanova as they lost the first set but came back to win in five. Djana Moreira led the team with 22 points while Georgios Tzioumakas recorded 17 in the win.

Top Performers

Team

• Hitting efficiency – Kioene Padova (58.8%)
• Reception efficiency – Cucine Lube Civitanova (37.1%)
• Blocks – Cucine Lube Civitanova (13)
• Points – Calzedonia Verona (83)
• Aces – Azimut Modena, Calzedonia Modena, Diatec Trentino, Revivre Milano & Sir Safety Conad Perugia (8)

Individual

• Points – Osmany Juantorena (Cucine Lube Civitanova) – 24 points
• Kills – Djalma Moreira (BCC Castellana Grotte) & Osmany Juantorena (Cucine Lube Civitanova) – 20 kills
• Aces – Maarten Van Garderen (Azimut Modena) – 4 aces
• Blocks – Davide Candellaro (Cucine Lube Civitanova), Emanuele Birarelli (Calzedonia Verona), Jiri Kovar (Cucine Lube Civitanova) & Marco Volpato (Kioene Padova) – 4 blocks

MVPS

• Nicholas Hoag (Diatec Trentino)
• Gabriele Nelli (Kioene Padova)
• Toncek Stern (Calzedonia Verona)
• Dusan Petkovic (Biosi Indexa Sora)
• Aaron Russell (Sir Safety Conad Perugia)
• Nimir Abdel-Aziz (Revivre Milano)
• Athos Ferreira Costa (BCC Castellana Grotte)

Rankings

1. Sir Safety Conad Perugia – 33
2. Cucine Lube Civitanova – 32
3. Azimut Modena – 30
4. Calzedonia Verona – 26
5. Kioene Padova – 23
6. Diatec Trentino – 22
7. Revivre Milano – 21
8. Wixo LPR Piacenza & Bunge Ravenna – 20
9. Gi Group Monza & Top Volley Latina – 12
10. Vibo Valentia – 9
11. BCC Castellana Grotte – 7
12. Biosi Indexa Sora – 6

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