Comunicato Stampa della Lega Pallavolo Serie A

Once again, the home teams had the better. In the playoff semi finals game 1, Bassano and Gioia del Colle gathered the first point of their respective series on route to the coveted place in the A1. Bassano registered its third win of the season against Latina after the regular season double. The hosts put Ricci’s players under pressure with their serve. De Cecco was often forced to play predictable balls for Rosalba, Giombini and de Marchi (he substituted Kovacevic, who had no influence), who were then victim of Bassano’s blocks with Guarise and Gitto. Setter Ronaldo was doing a great job too, like Tamburo in attack. In the third set, Latina got back in the game, drastically cutting down on their unforced errors and showing all its power. Latina was on fire and started the fourth set very well too, helped by Bassano who was not producing the goods on the serve anymore. Bassano trailed but remained at striking distance, until they tied it at 19. Then Guarise and Tamburo combined to send Bassano 23-20 up. The win was sealed by captain Guarise.

The encounter between Gioia del Colle and Roma was tight too. The hosts were quickly 2-0 up but Rome fought back strongly and nearly forced a tie-break.

SEMI FINALS

GAME 1

Nava Gioia del Colle – M. Roma Volley 3-1 (25-22; 25-20; 22-25; 25-22)

Bassano Volley – Andreoli Latina 3-1 (25-22; 25-19; 17-25; 25-23)

GAME 2

Wednesday 29 April at 8.30

M. Roma Volley – Nava Gioia del Colle

Andreoli Latina – Bassano Volley

GAME 3

Sunday 3 May at 6

Nava Gioia del Colle – M. Roma Volley

Bassano Volley – Andreoli Latina

2008/09 PLAYOFF DRAW