Gi Group Monza – Azimut Modena 2-3 (25-23, 13-25, 25-22, 26-28, 10-15) – Gi Group Monza: Jovovic 3, Botto 6, Beretta 5, Vissotto Neves 14, Fromm 24, Verhees 11, Brunetti (L), Rizzo (L), Galliani 0, Hirsch 8, Daldello 0, Dzavoronok 0, Raic 0. DNP Terpin. Coach Falasca. Azimut Modena: Orduna 1, Ngapeth E. 22, Holt 9, Vettori 24, Petric 12, Le Roux 3, Piano 5, Rossini (L), Massari 0, Onwuelo 0. DNP Ngapeth S., Salsi. Coach Tubertini. REFEREES: Cipolla, Puecher. NOTES – sets: 31′, 23′, 30′, 35′, 14′; tot: 133′. Attendence: 3915. MVP: Luca Vettori.
Gi Group Team Monza lost a big chance to defeat the defending champs Azimut Modena on the home turf, in front of a sell out crow in this great night of volleyball. Only one point earned by Miguel Àngel Falasca’s team, important anyway for the situation in the standings, but the feeling of a chance missed remains, for Monza.
Gi Group dominated first and third sets with a great performance of Christian Fromm and Pieter Verhees (former player of Modena), and with a good impact on the game for Hirsch (in place of Vissotto), on the other hand Modena dominated in second set and was consistent in the key set of the game, the fourth, won by the Canarini 28-26, who silenced the screams of the fans, who were almost exploding imaging a win of the game in fourth. Since that moment, the body language of Monza was not so good, and the major experience of Modena in this crunch time gave to the team of Tubertini the strength to win the tie break 15-10, concluding the game with a freeball put on the ground by Matteo Piano.
Pieter Verhees (Gi Group Team Monza): “We were so near to the win, it would be so important for us, for the standings and for the confidence, and now we are here speaking about a tie break loss. We made too many mistakes in fourth, and this killed us. We lost enthusiasm. We have some regrets, but we don’t have time for this. We will have another game on sunday, we should keep the focus on this nex game”.
Lorenzo Tubertini (allenatore Azimut Modena): “We won a difficoult game versus a team who played some great volleyball. We were a big unit, as a group as a team, we need to have continuity to our good volleyball. It’s an honour for me to be coach of this great team”.
