The four teams that had ended the regular season from 9th to 12th place played their last game of the Challenge Playoffs group phase today. Milan grabbed first place in front of Piacenza, Monza finished third and Romagna bottom.
Now those teams will wait for the final outcome of the league playoffs quarter-finals to know who will be their opponents in the quarter-finals of this competition which has a place in next season’s Challenge Cup at stake.
CMC ROMAGNA – GI GROUP MONZA 3-1 (22-25, 27-25, 25-23, 25-19)
CMC ROMAGNA: Mengozzi 5, Ricci 8, Cavanna 1, Della Lunga 12, Van Garderen 21, Polo 1, Goi (L), Torres 21, Boswinkel, Bari (L). DNP Koumentakis, Perini De Aviz. Coach. Kantor.
GI GROUP MONZA: Raic 19, Galliani, Mercorio, Jovovic 6, Rizzo (L), Botto 11, Verhees 17, Beretta 9, Rousseaux 11. DNP Sala, Daldello, Brunetti, Gao. Coach. Cattaneo.
A good performance got CMC Romagna back on track. It had the better of Monza in what has been a very tight encounter for three sets. The hosts had MVP Van Garderen as its main offensive threat. However, in spite of this positive result, Romagna cannot avoid finishing bottom of this group phase.
Andrea Bari (CMC Romagna): “We wanted to win even if it did not matter for the standings. We wanted a result to start this new Challenge playoffs on the right foot. I want to thank our loyal supporters, we will do our best for them”.
Jacopo Botto (Gi Group Monza): “Tonight, we showed the kind of flaws we’ve been showing all season. We just made too many mistakes, there’s not much else to say. This group phase is over now, we’ll try to do better from the quarter-finals”.
REVIVRE MILANO – LPR PIACENZA 2-3 (25-23, 20-25, 13-25, 25-22, 15-17) – REVIVRE MILANO: Milushev 11, Alletti 2, Sbertoli 2, Skrimov 23, Russomanno Dos Santos, Tosi (L), De Togni 7, Rivan (L), Baranek 1, Boninfante, Georgiev 7, Marretta 20. DNP Gavenda, Burgsthaler. Coach. Monti.
LPR PIACENZA: Coscione 1, Kohut 13, Ter Horst 17, Perrin 15, Papi (L), Lampariello, Zlatanov 1, Luburic 17, Tencati 6, Tavares Rodrigues, Cottarelli. DNP Sedlacek, Patriarca. Coach. Giuliani.
In spite of falling to Piacenza at the tie-break, Milan took first place of the Challenge playoffs group phase. This is Milan’s third defeat in as many games this season against Milan. As for Piacenza, this is a second consecutive victory after the one registered last week over Romagna. MVP: Federico Marretta (Revivre Milano)
Federico Marretta (Revivre Milano): “We are extremely satisfied to finish in first place of the Challenge playoffs. We really wanted to beat Piacenza but we can’t seem to be able to do it against them. But it was important for us to give it a good fight today and be ready to go again with that same will to play in the next phase”.
Stefano Patriarca (LPR Piacenza): “Tonight’s game against Milan was a test for us, to see if we could keep playing well after last week’s victory over Ravenna. And we did it, we gave it our best shot again and obtained the victory. Our will to play increases along with the wins. And we will keep playing with that same will in the next phase of those playoffs”.
UnipolSai Challenge playoffs: Final standings:
Revivre Milano 6, LPR Piacenza 5, Gi Group Monza 4, CMC Romagna 3.
UnipolSai Challenge Playoffas, quarter-final Game 1
Sunday 10 April at 6pm
According to their standing the four teams from the Challenge playoffs group phase will take on the four losers of the league playoffs quarter-finals. As far as the league playoffs losers are concerned, it’s the regular season standing that will be taken into account. For example: Milan, who finished top of the Challenge group phase, will take on the quarter-final loser with the worst position at the end of the regular season.
