Itas Trentino Trento was the first team to advance to this year’s championship playoff in the Italian men’s SuperLega Credem Banca after closing their semifinal series against Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza on Thursday evening. Cucine Lube Civitanova stayed alive in the other semifinal playoff with a stunning five-set away victory over defending champions Sir Susa Vim Perugia on Wednesday, bringing the series to a fourth match at home on Sunday.
Superlega 2024/25
Trentino off to SuperLega final, Lube stays alive in semis
Recap of Italian SuperLega third-leg semifinal matches
Published 07:19, 18 Apr 2025
Trentino’s Gualberto celebrates
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Trentino’s outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto was on fire again in Thursday’s match against Gas Sales. He put away as many as five aces towards a match-high 24 points, as his team delighted the four thousand fans on the stands at the ilT quotidiano Arena with a 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-19, 25-18) victory, closing the best-of-five series by 3-0 in wins. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) nomination went to Trentino’s Brazilian middle blocker Flavio Gualberto, who raised three kill blocks and spiked at an 88% success rate to finish with 17 points. Luxembourgish opposite added another 18, while his counterpart Yuri Romano led Gas Sales with 15 points.
“It's a great emotion to have won this semifinal at home, it was incredible to see the arena full and I want to thank all the fans who came today to watch us and celebrate with us this important result,” said Flavio. “It wasn't an easy match, just like the series in its entirety. We were aware of that from the first game. However, we have always been very smart in managing the various situations and complications that we encountered and we all deserved to reach the final.”
In a nerve-wracking battle, Lube survived an opponent match point in the tie-breaker to squeeze out a 3-2 (25-23, 20-25, 30-28, 22-25, 16-14) away victory over Sir and keep their semifinal series alive, with the team from Perugia leading 2-1 in wins. In front of a sellout crowd of five thousand spectators, the visitors showed great character and great teamwork on the way to success. Four Lube players scored in double digits, led by Canadian outside Eric Loeppky with 12 points. Turkish opposite and match MVP Adis Lagumdzija and outside Mattia Bottolo scored 11 times each, while middle Giovannimaria Gargiulo finished with 10. Sir’s Tunisian opposite fired five aces and raised two kill blocks towards a match-high 18 points. Outside hitters Kamil Semeniuk of Poland and Oleh Plotnytskyi of Ukraine put away 15 and 13 points, respectively, for the home team. Argentinean middle Sebastian Sole added 11.
“We knew we had to do something to get back into the series and we did it with a performance of character, never giving up, staying in the game until the last point in every set,” Lagumdzija commented. “We really deserved to get to game four.”
Game four is set to be played at the Eurosuole Forum in Civitanova Marche on Sunday, April 20, at 15:20 local time (13:20 UTC).
SuperLega Credem Banca 2024-2025 semifinal playoffs, 4th leg:
Apr 20, 15:20 local (13:20 UTC): Cucine Lube Civitanova v Sir Susa Vim Perugia
SuperLega Credem Banca 2024-2025 fifth place playoffs, 3rd leg:
Apr 18, 20:30 local (18:30 UTC): Allianz Milan v Sonepar Padova Padua
Apr 19, 17:30 local (15:30 UTC): Valsa Group Modena v Cisterna Volley
Apr 19, 20:30 local (18:30 UTC): Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina v Rana Verona
