Italy - Superlega 2021-2022

    It's a not a surprise that Trentino lost to Perugia in Coppa final.


    Sbertoli's pass is not stable as always. Some balls are too close to net. Without a solid OPP (Panali had approved to be a weak point for this team this season). They have to put Kaziyski or Lavia in OPP position a few times this season, but three OH roster (Kaziyski, Michieletto and Lavia) is not working well against strong teams.


    Leon, Anderson and Rychlickl are a strong combo. As long as two of the three play normally, Perugia has potential to defeat any other teams. Giannelli's pass is much better than Travica's, which was a main issue that Perugia struggled last season.


    If Perugia keeps playing like this, they may take CL and SuperLega champion this season.

    seems like he stepped on Ivan's foot and twisted his ankle? if so, better than an ACL injury at least. hope he gets healthy soon in time for the VNL and WCH!

    Quote from saishuu

    seems like he stepped on Ivan's foot and twisted his ankle? if so, better than an ACL injury at least. hope he gets healthy soon in time for the VNL and WCH!

    Yeah, I don't think it was THAT serious, so he'll be fine once NT season starts even if he twisted his ankle, the problem is Verona can be relegated in a week, it's still unlikely, because Monza won't have anything to win besides 6th place eventually in their last game, but without Mozic, Verona is Serie A2-level team, and even though they have 1-3 points of advantage over relegation spot, I can imagine different scenarios now if they don't get any point next week.


    Tomorrow is very crucial game between Padova and Vibo Valentia, Pasini wrote on his blog that historically this game (Nishida, Takahashi) will be streamed on Japanese TV with local commentary, the losing team will be on relegation spot before last leg, so it's perhaps the most important game of the whole regular season.

    Quote from Realista

    Tomorrow is very crucial game between Padova and Vibo Valentia, Pasini wrote on his blog that historically this game (Nishida, Takahashi) will be streamed on Japanese TV with local commentary, the losing team will be on relegation spot before last leg, so it's perhaps the most important game of the whole regular season.

    Padova defeated Vibo Valentia 3-1, so before the last leg that will be played next week, Vibo Valentia is in a relegation zone and needs a 3-point win over Piacenza, with 0 points for Verona or Padova, to not be relegated. I didn't follow this drama, but Douglas should be punished severely if they haven't found yet any agreement on his escape, he (co)ruined his team basically.


    Prisma Taranto suprisingly defeated Modena (without Nimir), and suprisingly keeps their Superlega spot, with some chances to make the playoffs (they're one point behind Cisterna, but Cisterna will play Trentino, while Taranto will compete against Milano) - huge seasons for 18yo Laurenzano and 20yo Stefani, both are serious revelations on libero/opposite positions. Laurenzano has always been a huge talent, but I didn't expect him to be among best liberos in the league in age of 18 (!) - Stefani is an interesting case as well, 4-5 years ago he was touted as the biggest Italian talent from '01 generation, he was even playing in Club Italia with 2-3 years older players, but then he stagnated in development, and Michieletto, Rinaldi and Porro were much more hyped past few years. This season he easily outplayed Sabbi even though he has started this season as a backup and then had problems with injury, 52% spike percentage, 36% spike efficiency, great defense for such a tall player (210 cm) - he's a legit talent while Italy needs a classy OP more than breath.


    Perugia will be 1st, Modena will be 4th, Milano will be 5th, Piacenza needs a set to be 6th, Monza will be probably 7th, Ravenna will be 13th - all other spots are yet to be decided.

    Perugia 3:0 Lube.

    Lube led at 16:9 in set #3, but lost at 29:31. Juan was OK, but Lucarellie and Zaytsev were off. And Lube's block was missing.

    Perugia ends up with 22W/2L in regular season. Without a doubt, they are the strongest team in Superlega this season.


    So playoff will be:


    1st pool:

    Perugia vs Cisterna

    Modena vs Milano


    2nd pool:

    Civitanova vs Monza

    Trentino vs Piacenza


    If no surprise, Perugia will meet Modena in the 1st semi. Modena could make trouble for Perugia. They tied with 1:1 against Perugia in regular season. Each time won at 3:2. It's a close game. So the 1st semi could be a tough battle.


    For the 2nd pool, Chances of Lube vs. Trentino in semi are high.

    Vibo Valentia is relegated alongside Ravenna, Cisterna defeated Trentino without 4 starters. Padova can thank Douglas for not being relegated.


    There's a chance Modena will play without Nimir in QF, so this series against Milano will be 50/50 then. Lagumdzija has returned to serious shape, so Piacenza has some chances against Trentino without Lavia, because Pinali is so streaky and average in general, today he was disastrous, although Trentino is still a favorite.


    I don't like a level of Superliga at all this season.

    Quote from Realista

    Vibo Valentia is relegated alongside Ravenna, Cisterna defeated Trentino without 4 starters. Padova can thank Douglas for not being relegated.


    There's a chance Modena will play without Nimir in QF, so this series against Milano will be 50/50 then. Lagumdzija has returned to serious shape, so Piacenza has some chances against Trentino without Lavia, because Pinali is so streaky and average in general, today he was disastrous, although Trentino is still a favorite.


    I don't like a level of Superliga at all this season.

    What is wrong with Nimir and Lavia?


    I am looking forward to seeing Perugia vs Modena series. Perugia is a dominating contender of the cups this season, and Modena had it’s problems along the way, which by the way wasn’t so surprising at all when you think about it, but in my opinion Modena is the only team that could defeat and push out Perugia. I hope they can do that so we can have some fun.

    Lavia has some muscular issues and was announced to miss around 2 weeks. Nimir has had some minor problems with his wrist, but the problem is he missed last two games and Giani said a week ago that they need to prepare plan B for quarterfinals to play without Nimir because he wasn't even training at that time, I don't know if there was any update on him yet.


    Like I anticipated, Juantorena will play in Qatar AFTER Italian league is finished.

    Quote from Jules

    my husband elected best setter of regular season


    joking or seriously? Brizard is the best setter of regular season in 2021-22 (from wiki). So...


    Time flies... Do you know who he is if you don't google :)

    Quote from kyle7in1

    joking or seriously? Brizard is the best setter of regular season in 2021-22 (from wiki). So...

    Hahaha yes he is

    and the other is a jokr

    Brizard was pretty bad yesterday against Trentino. Not only his choices were questionable, quality of his sets was subpar. Adis should have received more sets, somehow when he had good kills, Brizard decided to set to others no matter what. As I said before, Piacenza looks like a team that has lots of names but they don’t look they enjoy neither themselves nor the game they play. They also lack a leader on court.

    First and foremost, Piacenza struggled badly in reception, you can't do anything when your rival hits 12 aces in 3 sets, especially when Trentino had 61% spike percentage from 40% positive reception (61% is an impressive number, it's interesting how awful Trentino actually has been receiving this season).


    Pasini says that Perugia prepares themselves for naturalization of Kamil Rychlicki, in next year it will be 5 years for Kamil in Italy, and that gives options to get Italian citizenship from what I found. It is kind of sad he can't play for Polish NT even though his father is a former Polish NT player (Leon keeps a spot for naturalized player), but at the same time it would be huge both for him, Perugia and Italy to have him as a local player.

    Quote from Realista

    First and foremost, Piacenza struggled badly in reception, you can't do anything when your rival hits 12 aces in 3 sets, especially when Trentino had 61% spike percentage from 40% positive reception (61% is an impressive number, it's interesting how awful Trentino actually has been receiving this season).


    Pasini says that Perugia prepares themselves for naturalization of Kamil Rychlicki, in next year it will be 5 years for Kamil in Italy, and that gives options to get Italian citizenship from what I found. It is kind of sad he can't play for Polish NT even though his father is a former Polish NT player (Leon keeps a spot for naturalized player), but at the same time it would be huge both for him, Perugia and Italy to have him as a local player.

    It's actually just 4 years for EU citizens, so he could already start the process later this year. It would take some months to process though and I don't know if the change of federation is allowed mid season so he would probably start playing as italian for 2023/24

    Quote from voulter

    It's actually just 4 years for EU citizens, so he could already start the process later this year. It would take some months to process though and I don't know if the change of federation is allowed mid season so he would probably start playing as italian for 2023/24

    Ah, okay, thanks for the info. I think so too (about 2023/2024), having Giannelli and Rychlicki would allow to have two foreign MBs or foreign libero, so it's obvious why Perugia would force it. The question is what Rychlicki thinks about playing for NT, he said once he identifies himself as a Pole (his father won a medal at ECH with our NT) and changing federation to Italy would prevent him for playing for Poland to the end of his career. With Leon, that's not an option regardless.