After the halfway point, no one managed to stop Fabio Soli’s Itas Trentino, top of the class with 17 wins out of 18 matches played in the Regular Season. In the 8th return round, scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday 14 February (8.30pm with live coverage of Rai Sport, Volleyball TV and Radio Arancia) it will be the Cucine Lube Civitanova of Chicco Blengini in the remake of the 2022/23 Scudetto Final. The red and whites, on a positive streak of four games in the championship, have so far demonstrated that they know how to deal with the absence of an important element such as the unavailable Ivan Zaytsev by leveraging the group and the desire to fight of all the players. Starting with Mattia Bottolo, also employed from the start at the PalaMazzola in Taranto alongside Alex Nikolov (MVP in Puglia) and decisive for the outcome of the match like other teammates who took to the pitch. Against the Italian champions, a Play Off Lube will be needed to never give up.
Among the red and whites, given the absence of the Tsar due to a second-degree injury to the adductor longus of the right thigh, the young spiker from Livorno Gianluca Cremoni, who has already been on the scoresheet in the last two matches, started with the group.
The championship path of the two teams
After four consecutive successes, at home with Milan in the tie break, in Catania against Farmitalia in the photo finish, within friendly walls in three sets against Modena and in Taranto in four sets, the Marche region is fourth in the standings with 35 points and only one point behind to recover from third place, occupied by Piacenza, and with a 5 point advantage over Verona and Milan. The Dolomites, on the other hand, are coming off the victory with the greatest margin centered in Catania and have won all the matches after the halfway point without losing points along the way in the first seven matchdays of the return leg.
SuperLega Credem Banca ranking
Itas Trentino 49, Sir Susa Vim Perugia 41, Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza 36, Cucine Lube Civitanova 35, Rana Verona 30, Allianz Milano 30, Mint Vero Volley Monza 27, Valsa Group Modena 22, Cisterna Volley 22, Pallavolo Padova 16, Gioiella Prisma Taranto 11, Farmitalia Catania 5.
