Comunicato Stampa della Lega Pallavolo Serie A

Linkem Cup A1 playoffs final

Piacenza bounce back

Final game 2:

Copra Elior Piacenza – Itas Diatec Trentino 3-1 (17-25, 25-22, 25-16, 32-30)

COPRA ELIOR PIACENZA – ITAS DIATEC TRENTINO 3-1 (17-25, 25-22, 25-16, 32-30) – COPRA ELIOR PIACENZA: Marra (L), Corvetta, Papi 8, Fei 10, Simon 13, Zlatanov 19, Holt 12, Tencati, Maruotti, Vettori 7, De Cecco 4. DNP Latelli, Ogurcak. Coach. Monti.

ITAS DIATEC TRENTINO: Kaziyski 12, Sintini, Birarelli 13, Juantorena 14, Vieira De Oliveira 1, Uchikov 1, Lanza, Djuric 5, Colaci (L), Stokr 17, Chrtiansky Jr, Bari (L), Burgsthaler. Coach. Stoytchev.

Same score as in game 1 but this time for Piacenza who ties the series at home in front of 4000 fans. It had begun perfectly for Stoytchev’s team with a one-way-traffic first set but then the home side fought back and took the following three sets. Exactly the same scenario seen on Thursday night. De Cecco was back to his old self, totally unpredictable, Fei and Zlatanov shined, while Papi was always present in the moment of crisis. Good contribution both at the net and in attack from Holt and Simon, while Marra managed to deal with real rocket balls from Juantorena and Kaziyski.

MVP Zlatanov

Robertlandy Simon (Copra Elior Piacenza): “Now we know we can play face to face in this final, we already knew it in game1 but something had gone wrong. We all have to play united, with one unique goal. This balance can be achieved with good serve, trying to trouble the opposite reception. Now we’ll focus entirely on game 3 in Trento. If we were to win, we’d have a chance to seal it at home. The serve worked better after the first set, and we were more present at the net. In the fourth set, we played with great fighting spirit to cut the deficit and then win the set. It’s not easy when you’re 8-1 down”.

Radostin Stoytchev (Coach Itas Diatec Trentino): “Piacenza deservedly won the game. We did not handle things as we’d have liked too. We struggled in reception and lost composure. We should have done a better job of staying in it and play with more team spirit. Our good start might have deceived us, but more than the start it’s important how you close games. In such a top level final series, it’s not enough to prepare the game well tactically. You need something more in terms of mentality and attitude. We tried to get back in it in the last set but it was objectively too late”.

Linkem Cup A1 playoffs – FINAL GAME 3

Wednesday May 1 at 5.30pm

Itas Diatec Trentino (1) – Copra Elior Piacenza (3)  Live on RAI Sport 1

Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it

GAME 4

Sunday May 5 at 5.30pm

Copra Elior Piacenza (3) – Itas Diatec Trentino (1)  Live on RAI Sport 2

Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it

Linkem Cup Play Off A1 – FINALI Gara 5 eventuale

Sunday May 12 at 5pm

Itas Diatec Trentino (1) – Copra Elior Piacenza (3)  Live on RAI Sport 2

Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it