Itas Trentino became the first team to secure a place in the Del Monte Coppa Italia 2026 final after winning a dramatic semi-final 3:2 (25:21, 16:25, 23:25, 25:22, 15:11) against Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza.
The success is even more impressive, as the Trento team was without its star Alessandro Michieletto, and Daniele Lavia made only a brief appearance, recording his first minutes in an official match after more than half a year off the court.
The hosts started strong and took the first set, but Piacenza responded with aggressive serving and solid blocking, turning the score to 1:2. The visitors even took the lead after a hotly contested third set.
Trento, however, showed character and managed to equalize after a tense fourth set, sending the semi-final into a tie-break. In the decisive part, Itas built up a lead early on during the change of sides and held off Piacenza's pressure, with Théo Faure closing out the match with the final attack.
Thus, Trento is the first finalist and awaits its opponent from the second semi-final, where Verona and Perugia will face each other.
Watching the matches from the tournament were Poland's coach Nikola Grbic (because of Kamil Semeniuk-Perugia) and USA's Karch Kiraly (because of Micah Christenson-Verona).
photos: legdvolley.it
