Micah Christenson Sets Lights-Out, Russell Hits Over .500 as Top 4 Win

2018-2019 Italian SuperLega – Round 1

Sir Safety Conad Perugia Def. Top Volley Latina 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-22)

• Pala Barton, Perugia
• Attendance: 3069
• Sir Safety Conad Perugia starts at 1-0 with 3 points; Top Volley Latina slips to 0-1 on 0 points

Perugia were finally able to find success after a rough weekend in the Italian SuperCoppa where they went 0-2. Luciano DeCecco was able to hook up well with Wilfredo Leon to the tune of 12 kills with a .458 (57%) hitting percentage. Leon finished with 17 points as he ripped 5 aces from the service line. Aleksandar Atanasijevic led the team with 15 kills and added a service ace. He hit .360 (56%) in the sweep with 5 attack errors. Filippo Lanza scored 4 points on 3 kills and 1 block, but hit .000 (27%). Marko Podrascanin scored 9 points from 6 kills (on 7 attempts with no attack errors) and 3 blocks in the middle. Fabio Ricci scored 8 in the middle. He was a perfect 5 for 5 in attack, put up 2 blocks, and also scored on an ace. Jonah Seif was used as a sub in all 3 sets.

Simone Parodi led the way for Latina with 12 points on 10 kills and 2 blocks with 3 hitting errors. Toncek Stern chipped in 11 points on 10 kills and 1 ace, but he only hit .142 (48%). Ezequiel Palacios contributed 8 points on 8 kills without committing an attack error. Latina got 13 points form the middle with Carmelo Gitto and Andrea Rossi scored 7 and 6 points respectively.

Azimut Leo Shoes Modena Def. Globo Banca Popolare Del Frusinate Sora 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-18)

• PalaSport G. Panini, Modena
• Attendance: 4815
• Modena starts at 1-0 on 3 points; Sora falls to 0-1 with 0 points

Modena followed their SuperCoppa victory last weekend with a quick sweep on Sunday. Micah Christenson set Modena to an impressive 66% (.522) in attack. Tine Urnaut led the way with 17 points on 17 kills. Urnaut hit an astounding .714 (81%) from the left side. Ivan Zaytzev scored 15 points on 11 kills, 3 blocks, and 2 aces. The Italian opposite also hit .714 (79%). Simone Anzani hit .833 (83%) from the middle with 5 kills. He also put up 4 blocks to finish with 9 points. Max Holt scored 2 points on 1 kill and 1 ace. He hit .000 (33%) in the sweep. Denis Kaliberda came off the bench for Bartosz Bednorz (2 kills, -.250 hitting percentage). Kaliberda scored 5 points on 5 kills with a .444 (56%) attack average.

Dusan Petkovic was the only player for Sora to score in the double digits. The opposite scored 11 points on 11 kills and hit .291 (46%). Michal Kedzierski set Sora to a .241 (44%) attack average in a rather pedestrian performance.

Itas Trentino Def. Emma Villas Siena 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-22)

• BLM Group Arena, Trento
• Attendance: 2979
• Trentino jumps to 1-0 with 3 points; Siena falls to 0-1 with 0 points

It looks as if Trentino was the big winner between the swap of Aaron Russell and Filippo Lanza. Russell helped Trentino with 18 points on 18 kills. He hit .519 (67%) and was the teams leading passer (he did not commit an error in reception). Uros Kovacevic led his team with 19 points from the outside hitter position on 15 kills, 2 blocks, and 2 aces. The Serbian posted a .565 (64%) attack average. Luca Vettori put away kills in the win. Srecko Lisinac scored 7 points in the middle for Trentino with 7 kills on 8 attempts with just 1 attack error. Simone Giannelli set his squad to a .530 (64%) attack efficiency.

Saeid Marouf, the setter from Iran, set Siena to a .407 (50%) attack average, but they were not enough for Trentino’s firepower. Fernando Hernandez led the way with 13 points on 13 kills from the opposite position. Gabrielle Maruotti chipped in 11 on 10 kills and 1 ace. Maruotti hit .714 (71%) without committing a single attack error. Yuki Ishikawa put 10 points on the stat sheet. Jurij Gladyr led them in the middle with 4 points.

Cucine Lube Civitanova Def. Kioene Padova 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-14)

• Kioene Arena, Padova
• Attendance: Not reported
• Lube Civitanova jumps to 1-0 with 3 points; Padova drops to 0-1 on 0 points

Osmany Juantorena was back to his exceptional form with 18 points on 12 kills, 4 blocks, and 1 ace.  Yoandry Leal was the second-leading scorer for Lube with 12 points on 7 kills, 2 blocks, and 3 aces. Robertlandy Simon suffered from the opposite position with 4 kills and 1 ace. Simon also posted a .000 (36%) hitting percentage from the right side. Enrico Cester and Dragan Stankovic scored 7 and 6 points from the middle respectively.

Yacine Louati led Padova with 12 points on 11 kills and an ace. He was the only double-digit scorer for his team. Luigi Randazzo scored 9 points, all from kills, in the defeat. Maurice Torres was held to 5 points on 3 kills and 2 blocks. The opposite from Pepperdine hit a dismal -.227 (14%) on the night.

Calzedonia Verona Def. Vero Volley Monza 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-23)

• Candy Arena, Monza
• Attendance: 1492
• Verona starts a 3-0 with 3 points; Monza slips to 0-1 on 0 points

While Verona lost Thomas Jaeschke to injury in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League back in June. While that is a huge loss, they were able to sign Stephen Boyer back in the spring. His acquisition paid off immediately as he scored 24 points in his debut. The French opposite scored 24 points on 20 kills and 4 blocks. While the point production was impressive, one should note he committed 9 attack errors and hit .220 (40%). Sebastian Sole put down an impressive 14 kills from the middle blocker position. This went along with his 2 blocks and 1 ace. Morteza Sharifi scored 15 points as an outside hitter, putting away 12 kills on the left side to accompany 3 blocks. Mohammadjavad Manavinezhad, a recent addition at outside hitter from Iran only scored 4 points in his Italian debut. He finished with 3 kills and a block with a .125 hitting percentage (38%).

Donovan Dzavoronok led Monza with 20 points on 17 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace. Iacopo Botto put away 10 kills to go with 3 aces. Steffano Gianniotti scored 11 points as an opposite from 8 kills, 1 block and 2 aces.

Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia Def. BCC Castellana Grotte 3-1 (25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22)

• Pala Valentia, Vibo Valentia
• Attendance: 1500
• Vibo Valentia climbs to 1-0 with 3 points; Castellana Grotte falls to 0-1 with 0 points

Bulgarian outside hitter, Todor Skrimov, bounced back from a minor calf injury over the summer to lead Vibo Valentia with 27 points on 19 kills, 2 blocks, and a week-high 6 aces. Skrimov hit .468 (59%) in the win. Mohamed Al Hachdadi wasright behind with 23 points on 19 kills, 2 blocks and 2 aces. Tsimafei Zhukouski set Vibo Valentia to a .345 (47%) hitting percentage in the win.

Renan Zanatta Buiatti led Castellana Grotte with 24 points on the night. The opposite scored on 21 points, 2 blocks and 1 ace. Mojtaba Mirzajanpourmouziraji, another Iranian transplant in Italy, posed 13 points on 12 kills and 1 block. Aidan Zingel, an Australian middle blocker, scored 10 points on 7 kills, 2 blocks, and 1 ace. He put away his 7 kills on 9 attempts without committing an attack error.