NUMIA VERO VOLLEY MILANO- A. CARRARO PROSECCO DOC CONEGLIANO 1-3
(21-24| 25-20| 17-25| 23-25)
Numia Vero Volley Milano: Cazaute 18, Gelin ne, Guidi ne, Heyrman ne, Pietrini ne, Orro 4, Danesi 10, Kostantinidou, Fukudome, Kurtagic 2, Smrek 4, Sylla, 5 Egonu 15, Daalderop 5. Coach Lavarini
A. Carraro Prosecco DOC Conegliano: Gabi 14, Zhu 21, Seki, Eckl ne, Lubian 2, De Gennaro, Haak, 19 Wolosz, Adigwe, Lanier ne, Lukasik, Chirichella 4, Fahr 6, Bardaro. Coach Santarelli
Referees: Szabo-Alexi (ROU) and Michlic (POL)
Attendance: 3350
Set length: 29′, 28′, 25′, 30′
Notes: errors hit Mi 13, Co 13; aces 4-1, blocks 8-7
MVP: Haak
The two most beautiful words in volleyball, Final Four. The CEV Champions League begins to make the hearts of the fans beat faster, the A. Carraro Prosecco DOC faces the Numia Vero Volley Milano in the semifinals, in an endless challenge between the two best Italian teams. In the last year it has been worth the Scudetto and the 2024 Champions League, now the challenge gives a place in tomorrow’s final. It is played at the Ülker Sport Arena in Istanbul, a futuristic arena with over 13 thousand spectators that will host the show of the Final Four, more than 3300 are already present for the first semifinal.
Coach Daniele Santarelli deploys the diagonal Wolosz-Haak, Gabi and Zhu are the wings, Fahr and Chirichella the middles, De Gennaro the libero. On the Milan side, coach Lavarini chooses Orro-Egonu for the diagonal, Cazaute and Daalderop only the wings, Danesi and Kurtagic the middle, Fukudome the libero.
Milan starts by bursting up and holds the advantage for the first half of the set: the first break of 4-0 of the Panthers with Fahr and Haak on the cover for 13-13 is decisive, Chirichella’s block, on the other hand, gives the first real yellow-blue advantage (17-16, 12 points combined at the end for the middle blocks). Gabi (4 points, 100% in reception and 50% in attack in the first set) and Haak are fluid even on the sunset of the set, De Gennaro finds an assist to the kiss for the 18-21 of the Swede. Lukasik makes the second line thicker, Bardaro comes in to serve, a mega galactic exchange ends with Zhu’s 1-0 block.
A. Carraro Prosecco DOC rides the wave and starts the second set well with Fahr protagonist between first half and ace (1-5); Zhu beats as much as I can and Gabi, chameleonic, also shows up on the block (4-10). Brazilian engaged by Wolosz also from the second line when the Panthers find a break of 4-0 (8-14), De Gennaro gives phosphorus to the defense to expand the advantage on another lethal blow by Zhu (10-17, Chinese yellow-blue top scorer of the second set at 5, will close as top scorer of the match with 21). Coach Santarelli calls time-out as soon as Milan, Numia Vero Volley is stubborn and takes the lead: Seki and Adigwe take over the diagonal on the sunset of the second set (23-18), Egonu writes 1-1 on 25-20.
The third set opens with tension skyrocketing in a match that honors the weight of the stakes. In a hard-fought match, Zhu leads the attack at the beginning of the second set with 3 points very early (5-6); Haak maximizes as much as possible from seat 2 and gives a show at a crossroads of the game (13-19, 7 points for the opposite with 64% in attack in the third set, he will be MVP at the end). Milan growls to get back on track, this time the A. Carraro Prosecco DOC keeps its distance (zero errors in team attack in the third set) also thanks to Zhu’s heavy points, with Sylla’s error the Panthers go back ahead.
The fourth set is a ping-pong of smudges at the beginning, coach Santarelli inserts Lubian and the Panthers find a partial of 4-0 culminating with a block by Gabi (14-12): Wolosz and her teammates stick to a mini-break in attack (17-15), everything is decided on the razor’s edge. Seki enters to serve (18-17), Zhu closes the shot three times in a row (21-18, 10 in combination with Gabi in the set), Lubian also scratches when it counts giving away the matchpoint: on the fourth good ball it is Gabi who closes the game and sends the A. Carraro Prosecco DOC to the final.
But there is no time to enjoy another amazing achievement: tomorrow at 18 Italian time the Panthers take the field for the final, the fifth of the season; it will be the sixth ever in the Champions League for A. Carraro Prosecco DOC and the fourth in the last 5 years. The opponent will be Savino del Bene Scandicci, for the second year in a row the CEV Champions League is blue-tinted, the sixth in the history of the competition.
INTERVIEWS AND PHOTO ALBUM IN THE FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE PROFILES OF IMOCO VOLLEY
(photo Ramazan Esen)