Civitanova, no miracles and goodbye Champions League Final Four

Cucine Lube Civitanova attempted a feat in Poland, but it was the hosts of Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie who won the CEV Champions League Final Four. At the Sosnowiec Arena, in front of more than three thousand local fans and a group of supporters from the Marche region, Giampaolo Medei’s team saw any hope of a comeback vanish already after the first two sets, in the wake of the net 3-0 suffered in the first leg at the Eurosuole Forum

The return match in fact ended with another full victory for the Poles (25-22, 25-18, 26-24). A bitter epilogue even considering that the comeback attempt already appeared complicated on the eve. Now the focus shifts to the SuperLega: on Sunday, April 5 (6 p.m.) the scudetto semifinal will kick off in Verona.

The red-and-whites start with a good offensive approach, but they pay for ineffectiveness on serve and give in at the end of the first set, then lose continuity in the second. In the third set, rendered irrelevant by the already acquired result, space for the second lines and more balance, before the last dart of the hosts that finally closes the accounts.

MVP of the match is the opposite of Zawiercie, Bołądź author of 10 points, the same scored by Bottolo. Nikolov came to the fore in the first set with 7 points, but stopped at 8 overall. Center Podrascanin (8) and Tenorio (6) stood out in the third set.

In the first set (25-22) Lube was appreciated in attack, with Nikolov at 64%, but wasted a lot on serve (8 errors without an ace). Zawiercie, while not shining, finds two heavy aces. In the second set (25-18) the offensive effectiveness of the Marches dropped (35%), while the Poles maintained solidity and won the qualification. In the third (26-24), with the games now done, the two teams change their set-up and give life to a point-to-point final: Lube misses a set point and yields on the advantages in a now irrelevant partial.