Volleyball, Monza comes back and wins in the tie-break, Leon is not enough in Perugia: 1-1, game 3 on Thursday

Monza’s serve hurts, as does the confidence of a team that has never resigned itself to the role of outsiders in the final. Game 2 of the men’s final ends 3-2 for Mint Vero Volley, 25-20 23-25 ​​21-25 25-19 15-11 the partials of a match in which Perugia seemed really close to 2-0 with the possibility of look for the scudetto already on Thursday at home after game 1 won 3-1: instead we return to PalaBarton with a 1-1 draw and no certainty about the final outcome. Sir certainly had a new demonstration of the strength of its bench, extracting from there its real driving force of the day, Wilfred Leonwho finished with 24 points and 2 aces well triggered by Simone Giannelli. But the Cuban naturalized Polish came out in the final stages. When Perugia was already behind in the tie-break, crushed by a Monza team who unleashed 7 aces against 4, they found Stephen But a 28-point bomber, with 4 blocks and an ace, and took advantage of 38 errors from his opponents (against 23).

The first set is disturbing, because Perugia shows that it can move away when it reaches 11-9 with a wall of Russobut at the same time its hammers Semeniuk e Plotnytskyi they seem lukewarm, to put it mildly, and in fact they will close the set with just one point each. A fact that explains the overwhelming partial of 16-9 for Monza, with the Canadians in good spirits, But from 7 points e Loeppky from 5, and Perugia which only shows off I’m Tara (6 points), but little else for the lifts of Giannelli.

Lorenzetti has to invent something, and on the Sir bench it’s not difficult to draw well, you just need to focus on the right man. He chooses a champion who has been seen little so far, but it hurts when he is in form: Leon. It’s one of those days: even when he doesn’t hit the mark, even when he makes mistakes, he gives substance to the attack. Plotnytskyi also revives, pushing Perugia to 15-11, but there is also a lot of Russo around, as well as obviously Giannelli, Ben Tara who also puts the one that generates the set point among his 6 points, Flavio who closes the set with a block . Leon best scorer, at 7.

Monza had hoped for it, arriving at 22 all in the previous set, and the cold shower effect was felt when the escape at 9-5 for Perugia faded due to a millimetric stomp that nullified Giannelli’s ace. But Sir continues to grind, with the robust hands of Russo who unloads from the center in the early stages, with the rediscovered Semeniuk who with strength and lobs extinguishes Monza’s ambitions of a comeback (16-13). Leon confirms himself as the offensive key (6 points also in this set), Loeppky and Maar respond with 4 each, which are not enough, the many errors of Perugia give a hand, but in the end the 5 set points for Perugia inevitably lead to the 25-21 which seems to change the balance of power.

The history of these finals, including women’s ones, however, tells of sudden resurrections of teams that seem close to surrendering. What Monza manages to do, immediately at 4-1, then at 10-5 with a sequence signed by Di Martino, Maar, Takahashi (double ace) from which Perugia does not recover, at most it reaches a 4 point gap, but at the end of the day, 6 set points for Monza do not allow for variations on the theme. 7 points for Maar and 6 for Takahashi allow us to reach the tie-break. On the other hand, Semeniuk returns ineffectively (2 points).

The tie-break seems like a comparison between Monza and Leon, capable of scoring 5 of the 11 points that Perugia will score. His mistake gives a shock to Vero Volley which goes to 7-4, but Sir’s last gasps are given only by his shots triggered by Giannelli, plus an ace for 9 all. The coach from Perugia Lorenzetti he decides to take it away in a final in which Galassi, Maar, Szwarc and Takahashi then spread, landing the final point.