Comunicato Stampa della Lega Pallavolo Serie A

Serie A2 Sustenium Playoff final

Castellana Grotte goes up

BCC-NEP CASTELLANA GROTTE – PALLAVOLO MOLFETTA 3-1 (25-17, 25-18, 23-25, 25-18)

BCC-NEP CASTELLANA GROTTE: Cazzaniga 17, Elia 10, Ricciardello (L), Falaschi 2, Rodriguez 16, Salgado 13, Maric 8, Giosa, Tavares 5, Cicola (L). DNP Agrusti, Castellano, Torre. Coach. Di Pinto.

PALLAVOLO MOLFETTA: Cortina (L), Uchikov 19, Del Vecchio 3, Bacci, Botti 9, Mattioli 11, La Forgia, Giglioli 8, Al Nabhan 6, Illuzzi. DNP Caputo, Poli, Bisci. Coach. Lorizio.

Castellana Grotte will join Perugia in the A1. While Perugia won the regular season, Castellana Grotte earned promotion by winning the playoffs. Thanks to its better regular season position (2^nd), Castellana Grotte was given a 1-0 advantage in the final against Molfetta and it needed just two more games to sweep its opponent and celebrate its return in the elite after just one season in the A2.  

Vincenzo Di Pinto (coach BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte): “We won against everything and against everyone. The owner Vinella has won, he believed in this team and asked us the A1. I have worked for this since the day I arrived here, we first won the Cup and then we overcame some tough moments, I was the first to feel terrible when results were not coming. But that’s when the tough players came out in the light, they have behaved like true professionals and proved they deserved to be in the A1. It’s been a complicated year but a winning one, and it’s never easy to win. But we did it”.

Roberto Cazzaniga (BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte): “We reached our target but it was hard against Molfetta. They never gave up, we have to congratulate them. What matters is the victory, this cancels out all the problems we had this season, injuries and others. I came to Castellana Grotte knowing I would share the position with Milushev, a great player, but I was at the total disposal of the team and always ready when they called upon me. It’s a victory I dedicate to the fans, who really helped us today”.

Massimo Botti (Pallavolo Molfetta): “In this final, there are two teams who can celebrate for what they have achieved. We obviously are disappointed not to have won, but in a few days I’m sure we’ll all look back on what an amazing season we have played. Castellana was particularly up for it today, especially after taking Game 2 in our house. It was extremely tough for us to come here and win but we tried our best until the end, like we’ve done all season. I want to thank everyone at the club and the fans for supporting us all the way”.

Giuseppe Lorizio (coach Pallavolo Molfetta): “Amazing season, great guys with whom I had the honour to work. I am proud to have led this team until here, a team that have worked extremely hard to achieve this result. Big thank you to the club which made sacrifices to build this team and that allowed us to work well. If the team arrived this far, it’s because it deserved to, the boys have won against strong teams. Castellana Grotte’s last two games have been perfect, congratulations to them for this result. We remained happy to have been this far and taken part in this final”.