Lube looking to start another comeback at SuperLega Finals

Cucine Lube Civitanova have managed to come from behind to win their first two playoff series in the 2022-2023 SuperLega Credem Banca, and in order to secure their fourth-straight Italian title, they will need to do it again in the Finals against Itas Trentino.

After dropping the first match of the best-of-five series that will determine the Italian champions on Monday in Trento, the three-time defending champions will be back at home on Thursday, at 20:30 local time (18:30 UTC), for the second chapter of the Scudetto Finals, when they expect to start turning things around.

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Despite the setback in the first duel against Trentino, Lube remain confident they can still fight back and emerge victorious again. That, after all, is what they did in both the quarterfinals, when they trailed WithU Verona 0-2, and the semifinals, when they were behind 1-2 against Allianz Milano.

On Thursday, the reigning Italian champions will have the support of their fans as all tickets available at the Eurosuole Forum have been sold a week before the match and they count on it to even the score before returning to Trento on Sunday.

“Our goal in match two is to fight back and get our first win in the series in front of our fans,” outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov said.

Lube’s top scorer in the first match of the Italian League Finals with 20 points, the 19-year-old Bulgarian will play a big role in a potential comeback, carrying the team’s offense alongside fellow outside hitter Marlon Yant and opposite Ivan Zaytsev.

For Trentino, the goal is to build from their performance in the first match of the Finals and display an even stronger game in Civitanova Marché on Thursday. According to coach Angelo Lorenzetti, despite the victory, the team has some areas of improvement to look for ahead of the second encounter with Lube.

“For match two, we need to work better defensively,” the coach reflected. “We also had some issues with our sets in counter-attacks when Sbertoli couldn’t get on the ball, so these are two things we’ll need to do better in the second match.”

Thursday’s encounter will be a memorable one for Trentino’s setter Riccardo Sbertoli, who will complete 100 matches with the club. The 2022 world champion joined the team ahead of the 2021-2022 season and has already won eight medals with Trentino, including gold at last season’s Italian Supercoppa and bronze and silver in the last two editions of the FIVB Men’s Club World Championship.

The match will mark the fourth encounter between the rivals in the season and, after Monday’s triumph, Trentino have two victories to Lube’s one.

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