Coppa Italia, triumph for Civitanova
Civitanova-Verona 3-2
Young, crazy and winning. The giants of Cucine Lube Civitanova raise to the sky the first trophy after the massive revolution wanted by the Marche-based club during the market. At the Unipol Arena in Bologna, in front of more than 9,000 spectators thronging the stands with a large representation of Predators, the white-and-red club overcame Rana Verona in the tie break (26-24, 25-15, 23-25, 21-25, 15-10) with a spectacular but uneven game in the Del Monte® Coppa Italia Final breaking a title fast that lasted since the 2021/22 Scudetto. In between were two Del Monte® Supercup Finals lost at the tie break, in Cagliari and Biella, but also the Scudetto Final faded in Trento in Game 5.
This is the fourth personal triumph for Marko Podrascanin in his 15th career Coppa Italia Final Four; in the past, the Italian-Serbian had won the trophy in 2009 with Lube and then repeated in 2018 (right at the Unipol Arena in Bologna) and in 2019 with the Perugia jersey. Fabio Balaso, on the other hand, stamps his third triumph in the Coppa Italia Finalissima after his 2020 and 2021 victories, also at the Unipol Arena. It is the first trophy as head coach for Giampaolo Medei, who in 2003, on the court of Trento, had won a Coppa Italia tie break against Treviso as assistant coach of Lube, while as first white-and-red technical guide he had missed the success in the 2018 showdown at PalaFlorio in Bari against Perugia.
Ahead by two sets and in full control, Lube slowed down and suffered Verona’s comeback, only to command the game again by winning the second and decisive tie break of the two-day Bologna event. Important were Balaso’s saves in critical phases and the points of side players Bottolo (19) and Loeppky (17). Also indispensable were the hits of Nikolov (16) reinvented opposite by Medei and surgically inserted into the match. Verona è Keita-dependent (30 points), but also struck with Mozic and raised the level of the defensive wall on the run. On offense and from nine meters are overall moreù effective the cucinieri (9 ace to 4).
