Alex Nikolov won his first trophy in Italy,after Lube defeated Rana Verona 3:2 (26-24, 25-15, 23-25, 21-25, 15-10) in a spectacular but inconsistent game in the final for the Del Monte Coppa Italia at Unipol Arena in Bologna, in front of more than 9000 spectators.
Thus, the team from the Marche region broke a trophy drought that lasted since the Scudetto in 2021/22.

In the meantime, they lost two Del Monte Supercoppa finals in a tie-break, in Cagliari and Biella, as well as the Scudetto final in Trento in Match 5.

This is Marko Podrascanin's fourth personal triumph in his fifteenth Coppa Italia Final Four in his career; in the past, the Italian-Serbian volleyball player had won the trophy in 2009 with Lube, and then repeated it in 2018 (again at Unipol Arena in Bologna) and in 2019 with Perugia. Fabio Balaso, for his part, wins his third triumph in the Coppa Italia final after victories in 2020 and 2021, again at Unipol Arena.
This is Giampaolo Medei's first trophy as head coach.

Leading by two sets after complete domination, Lube slowed down and allowed Verona to come back, only to then regain control of the game, winning the second and decisive tie-break in the two-day tournament in Bologna. Balaso's saves in critical moments and the points from Bottolo (19) and Leppky (17) were important.

The crucial hits from Alex Nikolov, re-qualified as an opposite by Medei and brought into the match at the right moment, were also indispensable. Nikolov finished with 16 points (3 aces).

Verona relied mainly on Keita (30 points), but also hit through Mozic and improved their block-defense level in motion. In attack and from service, Lube's players were generally more effective (9 aces vs 4).
The final was a great success for Radostin Stoychev, who played for the trophy with a second team, after Trento.

Fabio Balaso was named MVP of the tournament.

photos: Nikolay Varadinov