Italian SuperCup: Perugia prevail vs Lube in tie-break to win trophy. 3rd place for Trento

Sir Safety Susa Perugia deservedly triumphed over Cucine Lube Civitanova in the Grand Finale for the 2022 Italian Volleyball Super Cup, with a fright caused by a slip by Wilfredo León.

It’s Perugia that raised Del Monte® Supercoppa 2022, and they did it for the fourth time in their history after 2017, 2019, and 2020.
The final verdict arrived after five sets (20:25, 25:22, 23:25, 25:22, and 15:8), with a shock of 2,500 spectators at PalaPirastu in Cagliari, Sardinia, caused by the fall of León, Perugia’s top scorer in the match.

The Cuban-Polish outside hitter, while landing on the ground after a spike, slipped on a giant sticker, fell back, and hit his head heavily.
Of course moments of fright followed as León remained lying on the court, seemingly unconscious.
Luckily, the intervention of Perugia’s medical staff reassured everyone as Leon was all right, he just left the field with an ice bag on the back of his head.
Later, he joined the winning celebration with his teammates as if nothing happened.
His team was leading 12-6 in the tie-break at that moment after coming back twice in the match due to Lube’s leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in set counts.
Lube, on the other hand, failed to score an 8-3 lead in the fourth set by which they’d avoid a tie-break and would take the title.
León ended this thrilling game with 21 points, which is the same number of points earned by Lube’s Puerto Rican-American opposite, Gabi García, while Cuban Marlon Yant made a 71% attack (15/21, 3 errors, blocked once) and Ivan Zaytsev entered the court only briefly in the last two sets.

Perugia’s Ukrainian outside hitter Oleh Plotnytskyi, author of 11 points, received the MVP award at the end of competition.

Before the Grand Finale, Itas Trentino defeated Valsa Group Modena with a score of 3-1 (25:14, 23:25, 33:31, 25:18) to celebrate third place.

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🏐| Italian SuperCup 2022/23 @ Cagliari Oct.31/Nov.1

— Semifinals —
• 17.30 (Local Time) | Cucine Lube Civitanova – Valsa Group Modena 3-0 (25:23, 25:23, 25:20)
• 20.30 (Local Time) | Sir Safety Susa Perugia – Itas Trentino 3-2 (23:25, 25:17, 25:22, 22:25, 15:7)

— FINALS —

Final 3/4 | 14.00 (Local Time)
• Itas Trentino-Valsa Group Modena 3-1 (25:14, 23:25, 33:31, 25:18)
Itas Trentino: Nelli 25, D’heer 9, Dzavoronok 17, Sbertoli 5, Cavuto 17, Pace (L), Berger, Laurenzano (L), Lavia, Podrascanin 2, Lisinac 1. Not entered Kaziyski, Michieletto, Depalma. Coach. Lorenzetti.
Valsa Group Modena: Mossa De Rezende 2, Pope 10, Marechal 4, Gollini (L), Sanguinetti 5, Stankovic 12, Ngapeth 1, Sala 12, Lagumdzija 2, Salsi 1, Rossini (L), Rinaldi 9. Not entered Krick, Bossi. Coach. Giani.

| Final 1/2 | 17.00 (Local Time)
• Cucine Lube Civitanova-Sir Safety Susa Perugia 2-3 (25:20, 22:25, 25:23, 22:25, 8:15)
Cucine Lube Civitanova: Garcia Fernandez 21, D’amico (L), Balaso (L), Zaytsev 1, Chinenyeze 2, Nikolov 4, Diamantini 3, Gottardo, De Cecco 3, Anzani 4, Bottolo 16, Yant Herrera 18. Not entered Sottile, Ambrose. Coach. Blengini.
Sir Safety Susa Perugia: Giannelli 6, Herrera Jaime, Rychlicki 14, Leon Venero 21, Solé, Russo 8, Colaci (L), Resende Gualberto 8, Semeniuk 6, Plotnytskyi 11, Ropret. Not entered Piccinelli, Cardenas Morales, Mengozzi. Coach. Anastasi.