Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, the club where legend Hristo Zlatanov serves as sports director, has taken another strong step forward in the Italian championship. Piacenza reached the semifinals for the fourth consecutive season, solidifying its position among the leading forces in Italian volleyball. The team's prospects look even more interesting, as his son Manuel Zlatanov, who currently plays for Ravenna alongside Bulgarian internationals Hristiyan Dimitrov and Samuil Valchinov ", a team that will participate in the Serie A2 playoffs ", is expected to return there next season.

Piacenza qualified for the Scudetto semifinals after defeating Modena away for the second consecutive time ", 3:1 (25:18, 21:25, 25:20, 25:20) in a match that lasted 108 minutes in front of nearly 5,000 spectators at "Pala Panini". Thus, the "Biancorossi" also secured their participation in European tournaments next season ", whether in the Champions League or the CEV Cup, remains to be seen.
The big hero of the match was Turkish international Efe Mandiraci, who scored 22 points, including an impressive 9 aces that tore apart Modena's reception at crucial moments. Gutierrez also made a strong contribution with 17 points, and Simon with 10.
The match started evenly, but Piacenza took control in the first set with strong serving and blocking. Modena responded in the second set, but in the decisive moments of the third and fourth sets, the visitors showed greater stability and attacking efficiency.
A key factor for success was the aggressive serve ", 12 aces for Piacenza against 6 for the opponent, as well as a better performance in blocking (8 against 4). Dante Boninfante's team also demonstrated higher attacking efficiency (62% against 61%).
In the semifinals, Piacenza will face Perugia, with the first match scheduled for April 6. The team's ambitions for the title remain entirely realistic, especially given the form they are showing in the decisive phase of the season.

photos: Nikolay Varadinov and legavolley.it