Once the regular season of the Super League championship has concluded, the break and preparation period has begun for Cisterna Volley in view of the start of the play-offs for fifth place, the tail end of the championship which will lead to the assignment of a place in the next competition European Challenge Cup. The Pontine team ended the season in ninth position with 23 points resulting from seven victories and fifteen defeats and are now waiting to know the teams that will emerge from the quarter-finals of the Scudetto play-offs to play a round-robin round of one-way match comprising five matches for each team. The four best teams will play the semi-finals and final in a single match, at the home of the best ranked team at the end of the tournament. The winner is qualified for the 2024/25 Challenge Cup. The dates of the group stage are: 1, 7, 10, 13 or 14 and 17 April while the dates of the semi-finals and final are 22 and 26 April.
«I am very satisfied with the work we have done in this regular season and, if I think about how we started, that is, very late, with many young people and all without experience in the Super League, I can say that we have often played on equal terms with very high level teams – explains coach Guillermo Falasca – we paid something at the beginning but, analyzing everything we saw, I can say that it is a fact that we had a good championship. Due to many situations we were unable to reach the play-offs but this must not make us lose sight of what the initial premises were: I was also in my first year in the Super League which proved to be a continuous and ultra-competitive challenge, I must say that we must experience this championship to fully understand what it’s about because things always have to be done too well and, above all, no one ever gives you the game. In other championships it may happen that the opponent can concede something to you but here the level of concentration and performance must always be remarkable because everything is taken to the limit. I am very satisfied with the work we have done throughout this period and I am also happy that the club has given an important message given that it is keen to give continuity to the team because it has seen that there is important potential.”
In the first round, Cisterna obtained 10 points (three wins and eight defeats), finishing tenth at the halfway point, while considering only the second round, the Pontini obtained 13 points (four wins and seven defeats).
