Italian Men: Trentino win streak comes to an end

Week 18 in the UnipolSai Italian Men’s League saw the end of a 9 game winning streak by Diatec Trentino, falling to their rivals Civitanova Lube in 4 sets on Italian national tv. The scores do not paint a pretty picture for championship hopeful Trentino, as they lost the first and last sets 25-13 and 25-14 respectively.

ROUND 18 SCORES

*Winners are bolded

ROUND 18 – JANUARY 14
Home Team	Visiting Team	Facility	Score
Diatec Trentino	Cucine Lube Civitanova	Palatrento	3-1, (25-13, 28-26, 20-25, 25-14)
Gi Group Monza	Sir Safety Conad Perugia	Candy Arena	3-0, (25-22, 25-18, 25-20)
Azimut Modena	Calzedonia Verona	PalaSport G.Panini	3-0, (25-20, 25-20, 25-15)
Wixo LPR Piacenza	Top Volley Latina	Pala Banca	3-2, (18-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21, 15-12)
BiosiIndexa Sora	Kione Padova	PalaGlobo Luca Polsinelli	3-1, (25-23, 30-28, 23-25, 25-21)
Bunge Ravenna	Revivre Milano	Pala De Andrè	3-0, (25-21, 27-25, 25-20)
Vibo Valentia	BCC Castellana Grotte	Pala Valentia	3-2, (23-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-21, 15-9)

Bolstered by the return of American Max Holt who missed multiple games with the flu, Azimut Modena made quick work of Calzedonia Verona with a comfortable 3-0 victory. The surprise for Modena was their MVP, recently turned 22-year-old Andrea Argenta, who earned the award in his first start of the season. Verona, who had been playing well since the insertion of Iranian Javad Manavi into the starting lineup, was hoping to prove that they belong with the trifecta of top clubs, but the severity of the loss further proves the talent gap between Modena, Civitanova Lube, and Perugia versus everyone else.

Vibo Valentia showed some guts with a comeback from down 0-2 against BCC Castellana Grotte. Unfortunately, both teams are firmly out of the playoff picture so the win was a purely moral victory, although one that I’m sure feels satisfying for the 4-14 club. Piacenza wins their second 5-setter in a row due to solid contributions from Trevor Clevenot and 39-year-old Alessandro Fei, who gives hope to older volleyball players with every one of his 20+ point performances.

TOP PERFORMERS

Team

Hitting efficiency – Kione Padova (64%)
Reception efficiency – Wixo LPR Piacenza (39%)
Blocks – Cucine Lube Civitanova (17)
Points – Wixo LPR Piacenza (85)
Aces – Vibo Valentia (8)

Individual

Points – Alessandro Fei (Wixo LPR Piacenza) – 25 points
Kills – Alessnadro Fei (Wixo LPR Piacenza)– 21 kills
Aces – Daniele Sottile (Top Volley Latina) – 4 aces
Blocks – Viktor Yosifov (Wixo LPR Piacenza) – 6 blocks

MVPS

Tsvetan Sokolov (Cucine Lube Civitanova)
Andrea Argenta (Azimut Modena)
Alessandro Fei (Wixo LPR Piacenza)
Luigi Randazzo (Kione Padova)
Klemen Cebulj (Revivre Milano)
Jacopo Massari (Vibo Valentia)
Aaron Russell (Sir Safety Conad Perugia)

RANKINGS

Sir Safety Conad Perugia – 48
Cucine Lube Civitanova – 47
Azimut Modena – 42
Calzedonia Verona – 32
Diatec Trentino – 30
Kioene Padova – 29
Revivre Milano – 28
Wixo LPR Piacenza – 27
Bunge Ravenna – 25
Top Volley Latina – 19
Gi Group Monza – 18
Vibo Valentia – 12
BCC Castellana Grotte – 8
Biosi Indexa Sora – 7

UP NEXT

ROUND 19 – JANUARY 21
Home Team	Visiting Team	Facility
Calzedonia Verona	Diatec Trentino	AGSM Forum
Cucine Lube Civitanova	Azimut Modena	Eurosuole Forum
Revivre Milano	Wixo LPR Piacenza	PalaYamamay
BCC Castellana Grotte	Gi Group Monza	PalaFlorio
Top Volley Latina	Vibo Valentia	PalaBianchini
Kione Padova	Bunge Ravenna	Kione Arena
Sir Safety Conad Perugia	Biosi Indexa Sora	PalaEvangelisti

Game of the week will definitely be Modena vs. Civitanova Lube. Both of these teams are contenders this season and have looked unstoppable at full strength.