After winning the CEV Cup at the helm of Poland's Asseco Resovia, Gianpaolo Medei began his new cycle at Cucine Lube Civitanova with a home victory. The 'red and whites' defeated Jacopo Cuttini's Sonepar Padova 3:1 (25-22, 22-25, 26-24, 25-17) in the first round of the 2024/25 SuperLega Credem Banca regular season. Lube played without Alex Nikolov, who is recovering from back surgery, and central blocker Marko Podrascanin, who may be available from the fourth round.

After a successful first set, Lube slowed down and logically lost the second part. The third set proved to be the most contested, with the home team's players only managing to overcome their opponent on their third set point. In the fourth set, there was only one team on the court - the hosts. Turkish international Adis Lagumdzija was named MVP after finishing the match with 25 points (62% attack, 2 aces, and 2 blocks). Botolo (15) and Loeppky (10) also scored in double digits. For Sonepar, the top scorers were Sedlacek (14), Masulovic (12), Crosato (11), and Plak (10).

In his first match as captain of Lube, Fabio Balaso established himself as a leader on the court. Noteworthy were the SuperLega debuts for Lube of 19-year-old, 213-centimeter tall Brazilian Davi Tenorio and Iranian Porya Hossein Khanzadeh. Lube's first victory took place in front of over 2400 spectators. Coach Medei's boys will not have time to celebrate their success, as they will visit Matey Kaziyski's Allianz Milano. The match is on Sunday, October 6, 4:20 PM Bulgarian time, with a live broadcast on Rai 2.