SERIE A1 TIM – MATCH 2 – THE FINAL
COPRA NORDMECCANICA PIACENZA GO ON
WITH THEIR DREAM
ON WEDNESDAY IN TRENTO THE ITALIAN CHAMPION WILL BE DECIDED
MATCH 2 RESULT
Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza – Itas Diatec Trentino 3-2 (25-21; 25-23; 18-25; 22-25; 16-14)
MATCH 1 RESULT
Itas Diatec Trentino – Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza 3-0 (25-20; 26-24; 25-15)
Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza – Itas Diatec Trentino 3-2 (25-21; 25-23; 18-25; 22-25; 16-14)
Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza: Rodriguez 1, Granvorka 5, Cozzi 1, Meoni 4, Boninfante, Santos Dutra (L), Zlatanov 29, Simeonov 7, Bravo 16, Gromadowski, Bovolenta 6, Bjelica 9. Coach Lorenzetti
Itas Diatec Trentino: Kaziyski 30, Segnalini (L), Birarelli 12, Jeroncic 9, Della Lunga, Bednaruk, Grbic 5, Nikolov 18, Mlyakov 1, Winiarski 9, Bari (L), Piscopo 1. N E Stoyanov. Coach Stoytchev
REFs: Menghini – Cinti
NOTES – Spectators 4300, takings 39.000€, set lenght: 25’, 30’, 26’, 34’, 21’ ; tot. 2h 16’.
Piacenza – The doors of volleyball’s heaven are waiting to be closed for the first time in front of one of the Serie A1 TIM championship finalists. The name of the winner will be decided on wednesday the 7th of may at 20.30 (Live on Sky Sport 2) because once again Piacenza does it and re opens the series of these playoffs.
The secons challenge between Itas Diatec Trentino and Copra Nordmeccanica, inside a sold out PalaBanca, opens with the duel between coaches Lorenzetti and Stoychev deciding the starting six.
Itas confirms Match 1 formation which knocked Copra out, Lorenzetti gives his confidence to Simeonov and starts with the one who conquered the championship final: Meoni – Simeonov, Bjelica – Bovolenta, Zlatanov – Bravo, Sergio libero.
If Piacenza never lost a set at home in these playoffs, there must be a reason for it. The team, specialised in resurrections, does it in this final too. Bovolenta % Co. go on court with a different attitude: they are not the team we saw in match 1 anymore, mistakes are reduced to the minimum, receptions works, the digging flies on each ball and Meoni is orchestrating Piacenza in the best of ways again (the teams attack % is around 77%).
Simeonov and Zlatanov are hitting hard and scoring points again, but the best one in this first set is Joao Paolo Bravo. The speed of the brasilian spiker surprises Trento who, when their matchball comes they are more discontinue than usual, Bravo’s 88% in attack is the symbol of his contribution to the victory of the set.
Itas reaction is immediate finding their pressure at serving, but also the thread of their game. Stoychev’s team takes the leadership at blocking again and flies on 3-6. A score that does not count for much. Meoni’s flopping serves trouble Winiarski, Copra conquers the 6-6 then takes over 7-6. Itas starts again with Kaziysli’s hard hits, he is Trento’s more concentrated spiker and Grbic relies on him.
The set sees Trento building 2 points runners, but they do not have the strength to build the successfull breaks seen in match 1. Piacenza is here and again, thanks to Meoni tactical service, they confuse the opponents. From 20-22 is 22-22, Kasiyski shoots a ball out putting Copra ahead, the 24th point is conquered thanks to Grbic’s mistake at setting. Trento gets nervous, Piacenza doesn’t. Hristo Zlatanov’s pipe is worth the 25-23 which makes PalaBanca jump up.
Trento does not sit back, they must re open the match and do not allow Piacenza to go for match 3 so easily. They do it by limiting their mistakes and increasing the number of balls to Kaziyski. Piacenza does not manage to play with the same intensity in attack, Trento flies on to 20-14 and Lorenzetti prefers to use the bench to give the starting six a rest to start strong in the fourth set.
Piacenza restarts, but Simeonov is missing, replaced by Granvorka. On the other side, Trento dictates the rhythm again. At the first TTO they are on 8-5 and everything appears as it should, Grbic & Co. just need to manage the set. A theory that Zlatanov wants to fail. He is the leader of his team and with a close diagonal goes on 15-15. the duel with Kaziyski is out of a movie. This is the most balanced part of the match, the teams play head to head with the sideout working to perfection. Piacenza makes three mistakes worth a poin and allow Itas to run away, this time for definite. Trento’s title dream is even stronger.
PalaBanca’s spectators attend a thrilling tie break. An initial phase which is a real battle of strength, Piacenza goes further thanks to Zlatanov and Trento’s mistakes, conquering two match points.
Kaziyski and Winiarski null them and from 14-12 everything goes even again. Trento is strong, but Piacenza does not give up and when Nikolov attacks on hte net, closing the door of his own dream, Copra reopens their own with a smile.
Dore Della Lunga (Itas Diatec Trentino): “It was a battle, but everything went wrong for us tonight. Piacenza proved to be very strong at home once again but we know we can beat them, we have done that already in match1 and we will do it on wednesday”.
Joao Paolo Bravo (Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza): “I thinks that after winning tonight everything is possible, the key of the match is playing like we know how to, it was hard but we wanted to get even”.
Marcel Gromadowski (Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza): “Compared to match 1 we played as a team, then we did not manage to show our value, tonight the audience helped us a lot. It is an important result and we are going to Trento to win”.
Matey Kaziyski (Itas Diatec Trentino): “You win and you lose as a team, never because an individual. The important thing tonight is that we showed our attitude, because after losing the first two sets we went to tie break. We needed very little to complete the task but in the fifth set we made some mistakes due to the pressure we were under and bad luck”.
Hristo Zlatanov (Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza): They are very strong, but tonight we played as a real team, we fought evenly against a verystrong opponent. Now the important thing is to keep concentrated because in Trento we will have an hell of a match”.
MVP DI GARA 2: Hristo Zlatanov (Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza)
PLAY OFFS TABLE 2008
QUARTERFINALS | SEMIFINALS | FINAL |
Match 1 9/04 Match 2 12-13/04 Poss. Match 3 17/04
| Match 1 20/04 Match 2 23/04 Poss. Match 3 26-27/04 | Match 1 01/05 Match 2 04/05 Poss. Match 3 07/05 |
1ª- Itas Diatec Trentino 2 |
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| Itas Diatec Trentino 2 |
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8ª- Cimone Modena 0 |
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| Itas Diatec Trentino 1 |
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4ª- M. Roma Volley 2 |
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| M. Roma Volley 0 |
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5ª- Lube Banca Marche Macerata 0 |
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2ª- Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 2 |
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| Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 1 |
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