Cuneo were the favorites and they won it, but Castellana Grotte did not make it easy for them. Despite being without Yosifov, Dolfo and Kindgard, Gulinelli’s boys had a convincing performance. But the absentees are no excuses as the starters did an excellent job.

“Shame the first two sets went like that because we were there until 20 with a chance – said Gulinelli – We played a very good third set but were too happy with it and started slow in the fourth. We found ourselves trailing 3-8, then we got in the game but without being able to recover from that initial gap”.