JesiIn the third-place match of the Jesi Volley Cup 2025, spectators will witness a true Bulgarian derby. Alex Nikolov and his Lube Civitanova will face Grottazzolina, which includes Iliya Petkov and Georgi Tatarov. The match is scheduled for Sunday, October 12, at 14:00 Bulgarian time, in the "Pala Tricoli" hall.
Lube, which for the first time assembled its full squad only now during the preseason preparation, lost to Milano 0:3 (22-25, 29-31, 20-25) in the semi-final and will have to settle for the bronze medal match.
It was evident that the fatigue from the long summer weighed heavily on the team's key players. Alex Nikolov and his club teammates from the Italian national team (Gargiulo, Bottolo, and Balaso), who played a full World Championship, which concluded with a final between Italy and Bulgaria, are not yet fully recovered and had limited time for preparation with the club.
"We are trying a new system with three outside hitters, and it takes time to master it and get into shape, especially for us who played until the very end of the World Championship," admitted Lube's outside hitter Mattia Bottolo after the loss (with a similar system, the Bulgarians reached the final in Manila - editor's note). "We are giving our all, but there are details we need to iron out. Tomorrow, the derby against Grottazzolina awaits us ", an important opportunity to accumulate playing time."
In the semi-final, the only player with a double-digit score for Lube was young father Erik Loeppky (11 points), while Nikolov finished with 8. The team distinguished itself with strong serving but lagged in organization and blocking ", signs of an still unrefined game rhythm. For the winners, the most effective player was Belgian national Ferre Reggers - 23 points.
Thus, on Sunday, the two teams from the Marche region will play a kind of dress rehearsal before the start of the championship, when on October 20, they will once again face each other in the first match of the 81st Serie A season.
photos: Nikolay Varadinov
