Perugia make successful return to Italian League

Newly crowned world champions Sir Safety Susa Perugia made a strong impression on their return to the SuperLega Credem Banca on Sunday as the Italian giants secured their 12th victory in their first Italian league match after their victory at the 2022 Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship.

Exactly one week after their victory in Betim, Perugia were on the road against Vero Volley Monza and claimed a three-set (25-19, 25-22, 25-20) win to remain comfortably at the top of the standings with 36 points. Second placed Valsa Group Modena have 23 points and seven victories.

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The triumph in Monza ended what was a busy yet productive week for the world champions. Besides securing their first world title on Sunday in Betim, Perugia also won their fourth CEV Champions League match of the season on Thursday against Türkiye’s Ziraat Ankara. The Italians have triumphed in all of their matches so far this season.

Perugia once again benefited from the depth of their squad. The Italian League leaders gave no chance to Monza this weekend, despite keeping Polish star outside hitter Kamil Semeniuk and high-scoring Cuban opposite Jesus Herrera on the bench for the entire match.

The offense run by Club World Championship Most Valuable Player and setter Simone Giannelli got 15 points from Ukraine’s outside hitter Oleh Plotnytskyi (12 kills, one block, two aces), 14 from Luxembourg’s opposite Kamil Rychlicki (13 kills, one ace) and 13 from team captain and Poland outside hitter Wilfredo Leon (nine kills, two blocks, two aces).

“I think we lost our focus a little bit in the second set, but we’re lucky to have players like Leon, who can make a difference from the service line,” Plotnytskyi commented. “But overall, I believe it was a good match. We played as a team from the first to the last ball and we know we are a very good team when we do that. We still have another match before the break and we’ll try to keep the same spirit.”

Canadian outside hitter Stephen Maar was Monza’s most productive player in the match. He tallied 14 points (12 kills, two aces) for his team, three more than fellow outside hitter Uladzislau Davyskiba, who got his 11 points with nine kills and two blocks.

The Italian League features one more match before Christmas, between Cucine Lube Civitanova and Emmas Villa Aubay Siena on Wednesday, at 20:30 local time (19:30). The team from Siena will also be Perugia’s opponent in their last match of the year, on December 26, at 18:00 local time (17:00 GMT).

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