The Italian men’s SuperLega Credem Banca playoff phase showed its true face with the very first leg of the best-of-five quarterfinals and two of the four matches resulted in upsets. On Sunday evening, Allianz Milan achieved a five-set victory at Cucine Lube Civitanova, while Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza claimed a four-set win at Rana Verona.
Superlega 2024/25
First upsets in SuperLega playoffs delivered
Recap of Italian SuperLega 1st-leg quarterfinal matches
Published 06:45, 10 Mar 2025
Lube’s Aleksandar Nikolov on the block against Allianz’s Tatsunoru Otsuka
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In the tightest of the four matches, Allianz Milan, who finished the regular season in sixth place, came back from a set down twice during their visit to third-placed Cucine Lube Civitanova to emerge with a 3-2 (27-29, 25-23, 18-25, 25-23, 17-15) win. Four of the five sets in this epic match were decided by the narrowest of margins, two of them were pushed to overtime. It was Lube’s first loss at home this season.
Allianz’s Belgian opposite Ferre Reggers was the best scorer of the match. He spiked at a 59% success rate and put away two kill blocks and an ace to finish with 26 points. The Most Valuable Player award went to his teammate, Japanese outside Tatsunori Otsuka, who came in as a substitution in the first two sets, but then was among the starters for the next three, contributing a total of 16 points towards the victory. Canadian middle blocker Jordan Schnitzer added another 12. Outside Mattia Bottolo led Lube with 24 points, including three aces and three blocks. Turkish opposite Adis Lagumdzija added another 22 (four blocks, one ace). Bulgarian outside Aleksandar Nikolov, who was not among the match starters, ended up scoring 15 points, while Serbian middle Marco Podrascanin finished with 12.
“We had to play our game, even with our difficulties against a great opponent. We did it. Otsuka came in strong. He really played well as he does every time he is called into play,” commented Allianz’s setter Paolo Porro. “For game two, we will be at home and we will need our fans, but first we will enjoy the victory now and rest a bit. Let's think about it one game at a time.”
In Sunday’s late game, a clash between fourth-placed Rana Verona and fifth-placed Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, the visitors surprised their hosts with a 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-17, 25-20) win and took the lead in the series. Canadian outside Stephen Maar led Gas Sales to victory with 19 points, firing two aces and registering a 59% success rate in attack. Opposite Yuri Romano added 16 points (two aces, one block). The other outside, Turkiye’s Ramazan Efe Mandiraci, finished with 13 points. So did Cuban middle Robertlandy Simon, who spiked with 90% success and raised three kill blocks. In the absence of Malian scoring machine Noumory Keita, who only entered the court as a sub during set four, Rana Verona were led by American outside Jordan Ewert and Danish opposite Mads Kyed Jensen with 15 points apiece.
“I'm happy with how we started these playoffs,” said Gas Sales’ head coach Lubomir Travica. “I've always said that the real championship starts now. I'm happy with how the boys played the game and with the approach they had on the court. Verona didn't give us anything. We won on our own merit. We're just at the beginning. The series is long, but I can say that this team has a lot of room for improvement. We're at 60% of our abilities.”
Saturday’s matches did not offer any surprises, maybe with the exception of the first set between defending champions Sir Susa Vim Perugia and Valsa Group Modena, which was won by the visitors. The second was not easy for the favorites either, but the squad from Perugia recovered to put together a 3-1 (23-25, 32-30, 25-22, 25-18) victory. Four of Sir’s players reached the double digits in scoring: Tunisian opposite Wassim Ben Tara with 16 points, outsides Kamil Semeniuk of Poland with 16 and Oleh Plotnytskyi of Ukraine with 15, and Argentinean middle Agustin Loser with 12. Modena’s Belarusian outside Uladzislau Davyskiba topped the charts with a match-high 19 points, including three aces. Also with three aces to his name, Austrian opposite Paul Buchegger finished with 17 points, while Cuban outside Jose Gutierrez added 14.
Regular season winners Itas Trentino Trento mastered a 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-14) shutout of Cisterna Volley at home, with a match-high 18 points from Luxembourgish opposite Kamil Rychlicki. Outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto contributed another 13, while French opposite Theo Faure was Cisterna’s most prolific scorer with 15 points.
The second leg of the quarterfinals will take place on Sunday, March 16.
SuperLega Credem Banca 2024-2025 quarterfinal playoffs, 2nd leg:
Mar 16, 16:00 local (15:00 UTC): Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza v Rana Verona
Mar 16, 17:00 local (16:00 UTC): Allianz Milan v Cucine Lube Civitanova
Mar 16, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Cisterna Volley v Itas Trentino Trento
Mar 16, 19:00 local (18:00 UTC): Valsa Group Modena v Sir Susa Vim Perugia
