Champions League: a brutal Perugia destroys Modena in quarterfinal rematch to advance to semifinals!

Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia fly to the semifinals of the 2021 CEV Volleyball Champions League.
In the rematch of the all-Italian derby valid for the spot in the semifinals, they showed off a perfect performance against Leo Shoes Modena. After annulling 3-0 defeat from the 1st leg, Vital Heynen’s team dominated also the Golden Set with a clamorous 15:5!
Perugia finished the match with 13 winning blocks (compared to 4 for the rivals) and 8 aces (3 for the team coached by Andrea Giani)
Cuban-Polish Wilfredo Leon from the winners top-scored the encounter with 24 points, including 5 blocks while Oleh Plotnytskyi added 17 and Fabio Ricci set up 5 winning blocks. Perugia now await the winners of the match-up between Itas Trentino and Berlin Recycling Volleys. For Modena, Luca Vettori topped the charts with 14 points.

Ter Horst, player of Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia: “I am very proud of my team and I’m proud of what we did tonight. It was not easy to play this game after last week’s result. Winning three straight sets and then the golden set has been extraordinary. I think that tonight we played our game and we raised our level. We trained very hard this week and I’m glad with tonight’s result.”

Dragan Stankovic, Player of Leo Shoes Modena: “When you lose at 3-0, and then you lose the Golden Set, you have played bad. We had our chances in the first set but after that they took their chances. We knew what kind of game we could expect today but Perugia played on a very high level, they didn’t make any mistakes as in the first match. The performed very well on the serve, they also have great efficiency in attack. Perugia were very well organised today, congratulations to them and good luck in the next phase!”

| 2021 CEV Volleyball Champions League, playoff quarterfinals – 1st leg:
| February 23, 2021
• Leo Shoes Modena – Sir Safety Perugia 3-0 (25:21, 25:18, 25:22)

| February 24
• Cucine Lube Civitanova – Grupa Azoty Kędzierzyn Kozle 1-3 (23:25, 25:14, 21:25, 21:25)
• PGE Skra Belchatow – Zenit Kazan 1-3 (23:25, 25:19, 23:25, 19:25)

| February 25
• Berlin Recycling Volleys – Itas Trentino (19:25, 23:25, 28:26, 17:25)

| Second Leg
| March 2
• Sir Safety Perugia – Leo Shoes Modena 3-0 (25:23, 25:18, 25:21 – GOLDEN SET 15:5)

| March 3
• Grupa Azoty Kędzierzyn Kozle – Cucine Lube Civitanova 3-0 (22:25, 24:26, 24:26 – GOLDEN SET: 16:14)

| March 4
• Zenit Kazan – PGE Skra Belchatow 3-2 (22:25, 25:19, 25:17, 13:25, 15:12)
• Itas Trentino – Berlin Recycling Volleys 3-0 (25:22, 25:21, 25:21)

Source and photos: CEV