Shocking Farewell From Trentino In Italy, Jastrzebski Advanced To The Polish Semifinals

Of course, we have seen a lot of unexpected results throughout the national club season, but one of the biggest surprises happened this weekend in Italy, since the biggest favorite of the national title, Trentino, said goodbye to the domestic tournament after a 3-2 defeat. On the other hand, Jastrzebski will continue their way without any difficulties in Poland, as well as Halkbank in Türkiye.

The Italian SuperLega journey came to an end for the reigning domestic titleholder, this year’s champion of the regular phase, and one of the SuperFinalists in the CEV Champions League Volley, Itas Trentino. After finding a 2-0 lead in the semifinal series against Mint Vero Volley Monza, they lost the following two clashes, and the score was tied to 2-2.

The determining fifth game was held this weekend in front of more than 3000 spectators. Monza side started quite powerfully once again, and took the first two sets with a clear performance. After that point, Trentino started to play their usual game, and even though both sides struggled a little bit, the battle was extended to the determining tie-break. Monza side here managed to stay calm and put a better effort to the court and won both the match (3-2: 25-18, 25-22, 23-25, 24-26, 17-15) and the semifinal series by 3-2.

Canadian elite players Eric Loeppky and Stephen Maar became the top scorers of the winning side with 23 points, but the MVP title went to a different name: With a total of 19 points, each of them from attack, Japanese young talent Ran Takahashi was honored with the Most Valuable Player award. Luxembourgian opposite Kamil Rychlicki became the most productive player on the court with 31 points, which was not enough for victory.

Things went quite well for Polish SuperFinalist Jastrzebski Wegiel: They once again took the court against Indykpol AZS Olsztyn in the second leg of the quarterfinal round. Even though Olsztyn started the match better, Jastrzebski side started to perform at their best level from the second set and secured their place in the semifinals with a 3-1 win (21-25, 25-14, 25-13, 25-23).

Jean Patry (13), Rafal Szymura (11), and Norbert Huber (11) were the players who scored in double digits on Jastrzebski side, but the MVP was selected as Polish outside hitter Tomasz Fornal, who tallied 7 points. Alan Souza contributed to his team with 13 points on the losing side.

Similar to Jastrzebski, Asseco Resovia Rzeszow, Project Warszawa, and Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie also booked their place in the Polish semifinals. Therefore, as likely to happen, the top four teams of the regular season filled all spots.

Now the domestic season is over for Trentino, and they will definitely now start fully focusing on the #CLVolleyM SuperFinals in Antalya, Türkiye. On the other hand, Jastrzebski will continue their way in Poland, aiming for the top of the podium. We will see how the squads will react to these results.