Date: April 27, 2024 11:04 am
SIENA. Everything is ready for the start of the Interregional Serie B Playoffs. Having finished the season in fifth position in the Gold Play-Ins, Virtus will face the fourth-placed team in the first round, i.e. Pallacanestro Pavia, in a best-of-3 series, which will see the Lombards with the field factor in their favor having finished in one position best in the ranking.
Tomorrow, Sunday 28 April, the teams will play Game 1 at 6.30 pm at the PalaRavizza in Pavia. The program then includes Race 2 on Wednesday 1 May at 6.30 pm at PalaCorsoni and the possible Race 3 on Sunday 5 May again in Pavia. During the season the teams faced each other in the Gold Play-Ins, achieving one victory each: in the first leg Virtus won at home 76-67, while in the return leg it was Pavia who prevailed 83-58.
«Pavia is a very strong team, which was built to move up in category. A real battle will therefore await us to try to take away the two points – says coach Francesco Braccagni –. They are a complete team in all roles, so we will have to be good at defending both on the outside and on the long runs. It’s a Playoff challenge, we know that they have the field factor but they will also have much more pressure than us already in Game 1. We come to the challenge full of energy, we have to try to put a few pebbles in their gears, going to Pavia convinced of getting a result and trying to win the first match of the series away which would be decisive for us.”
