The addition of two more wins, midweek and over the weekend, pushed Itas Trentino's winning streak in the Italian Men's League to an incredible 11 matches (14 counting the European Champions League), as the five-time world champions continue their quest to catch up with the table leaders.
On the back of 25 points by the Netherlands' Nimir Abdel-Aziz (including 3 blocks, 3 aces and 19/28 for 68% in attack), Trentino overwhelmed Top Volley Cisterna 3-1 (24-26, 26-24, 25-20, 25-18) at home on Saturday.
Both the first and second sets could have gone either way, but it took Trentino four tries to clinch the first and Cisterna three to take the second.
Earlier in the week, with another top-scoring performance by Abdel-Aziz who bagged 23 points, Trentino had shut out Kioene Padova 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 35-33), also at home, in a postponed match from earlier in the season.
The two wins see Trentino comfortably in third place, just two points behind (though with a match extra) second-placed Cucine Lube Civitanova who dropped a point at home on Saturday to Leo Shoes Modena.
With well-distributed scoring by Yoandy Leal (18 points), Osmany Juantorena (16), Kamil Rychlicki (16) and Robertlandy Simon (14), defending champions Lube edged Modena 3-2 (25-20, 28-30, 25-19, 16-25, 15-10) at the Eurosuole Forum.
Lube missed out twice on going two sets up, when they failed to convert set points at 27-26 and 28-27 in the second, as Luca Vettori emerged top scorer of the match with 19 points for Modena.
But Sir Safety Conad Perugia remained comfortably at the top of the standings with a 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-16, 25-21) win over Allianz of Milan on Sunday evening.
Perugia were inspired by Wilfredo Leon who scored a match high of 25 points and picked up the MVP of the game award, as Perugia extended again their lead over Lube to six points.
The competition continues with a few rescheduled games midweek and a full round of play over the coming weekend.
All the details on the official website of the Italian Men's League.
Quick links:
Volleyball World
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Youtube