Lube Civitanova continues to be undefeated at home, after achieving a difficult, but sweet victory over Taranto with a score of 3:1 (17:25, 25:11, 26:24, 25:22). In this way, coach Medei's boys recorded their 13th victory and with 42 points are in third position in the standings, 6 points behind fourth-placed Verona. Lube has one less match, along with second-placed Trento, due to their participation in European tournaments. Thus, the team from the Marche region got revenge for their loss in the autumn part of the championship, when Bonifante-senior defeated his son Mattia, who is Lube's setter, in Taranto.
The best player in the match was his namesake Mattia Bottolo, who scored 20 points (5 blocks, 2 aces) and deservedly became the MVP of the match. Dirlik added 17 points, and Chinenyeze another 11 for the victory.Alex Nikolov came in briefly, scoring 2 points in attack at the end of the third and fourth sets.
For Taranto, Fabrizio Gironi was the top scorer with 15 points.
In one hour and 50 minutes of play, the main advantage of the hosts proved to be blocking, with a ratio of 16/8 in favor of Lube. The next match for the Italian Cup winner is an away game against European club champion Trento on February 23, and before that, they have a postponed championship match against Padova on Thursday, with two rounds remaining until the end of the first phase.
The family clash of the Bonifante family is the fifteenth victory out of fifteen matches played in the hall in Marche.
Unfortunately, Lube may not be able to rely on Lagumdzija in the next match due to an accidental collision under the net at 13:16 in the first set of the match.
Cucine Lube Civitanova:Bottolo 20, Gargiulo 8, Lagumdzija 3, Leoppky 9, Chinenyeze 11, Bonifante 3, Bisotto (L), Orduna 0, Balaso (L), Hossein Hanzadeh 0, Nikolov 2, Dirlik 17, Podrascanin 1. Did not play: Tenorio. Coach: Medei.
Gioiella Prisma Taranto:Held 10, Alonso 9, Gironi 15, Lanza 10, D'Heer 9, Zimmermann 1, Luzzi (L), Aletti 1, Hofer 1, Rizzo (L), Fevereiro 1, Hopt 1. Did not play: Balestra, Paglialunga. Coach: Bonifante.
Notes:
Civitanova: service errors 17, aces 5, blocks 16, attack 49%, reception 52% (21%).
Taranto: service errors 16, aces 6, blocks 8, attack 41%, reception 47% (19%).
Spectators: 1748.
MVP: Bottolo.
