Perugia takes it all. In the end the championship also arrived in a magnificent season, in which Simone Giannelli and his teammates won the Super Cup, Italian Cup and Club World Cup. In game 4 the title came by beating Monza in its arena 3-1 (25-19 23-25 25-27 20-25), concluding a final that was already headed after Sir Susa Vim’s advantage in game 3 at PalaBarton.
Lorenzetti’s record and Giannelli’s class
For Angelo Lorenzetti it is the second consecutive championship after the one won last year in Trento, and the fifth in four cities. For Wilfredo Leon instead the 25 decisive points against Monza are the best farewell towards a crowd that he will leave to return to Poland: his three consecutive points in the fourth set which gave him the possibility of closing the match and winning the second championship after the one in 2018 in Perugia . A club burned last year by the elimination in the quarterfinals with Milan after having won all the matches of the regular season: a past left behind to immerse themselves in this memorable season. A year in which the star Giannelli shone as always, champion everywhere, ready to lead the team, serve valuable balls and hit with class: MVP in the end the setter, who returned to win the championship nine years after the last one with the jersey of Trent.
Savino Del Bene surrenders to Imoco, the championship remains in Conegliano
by Antonino Palumbo
April 27, 2024
The news
The first set belongs to Monza, led by a 6-point Maar, capable of combining blocks and attacks with Galassi that make the difference, from 15-13 it quickly goes to 18-13. For Perugia it is difficult, indeed impossible to get closer, and the 25-19 is signed by the Canadian himself with an attack that can only be deflected.
But Giannelli and Leon play against Perugia, the latter ready to score 10 points and make a concrete comeback against a Monza team that had reached a 5-point lead: 12-7, after fine shots from Loeppky, blocks from Maar and Galassi. But the same Polish-Ccubano with a lob and an ace brings Perugia back under, who find in Giannelli the executor of the point of 25-23 with a winning diagonal.
Perugia slips to 7-4 in the third set when Plotnytskyi (pipe), Herrera (ace), Giannelli (diagonal), Leon (hands out) combine. Monza is not mortified even when Giannelli hits the ace of 19-13, or Perugia has 4 set points, which are slowly canceled out one by one: Giannelli responds to Loeppky’s block with one of his shots to push the ball where it cannot be recovered , Takahashi unloads for 25 all, then Flavio with a first half and an error from Maar close the set.
Perugia is now heading towards the scudetto, and hits hard at the beginning of the set: with Plotnytskyi, Giannelli Herrera twice to immediately get to 5-1. These are Wilfredo Leon’s last phases in the team he has played for since 2018, and the Polish-born Cuban manages to leave his mark: from zone 4 he hits three times, before Semeniuk puts the championship ball on the ground.
