Cucine Lube Civitanova has been eliminated from the World Championship race by Trentino Itas, who managed to defeat the red and whites in the semi-final with a score of 3:0 (25-20, 28-26, 25-19). Thus, unfortunately, coach Medei's players were unable to give him a final for his birthday, which was on the day of the match. Lube, who remain in contention for third place, will return to the court at Arena Sabiazinho in Uberlândia on Sunday, December 15, at 11 AM local time (4 PM Bulgarian time) against Iranian Foolad Sirjan in a repeat of the first match of Group A. Five-time champions Trentino and four-time winners Sada Cruzeiro will face each other in the final for the gold medals of the tournament, scheduled for 2:30 PM local time (7:30 PM Bulgarian time).
After the victory of the yellow-blues in the 2018 final in Poland and Lube's revenge in the 2021 semi-final in Belo Horizonte, the balance in the Italian derbies of the Club World Championship is now favorable to the Dolomites with 2 wins to 1. The second game was decisive, when Lube could have returned to the game and the match could have gone in another direction, restoring the confidence of Alex Nikolov and company. The statistics of Gianpaolo Medei's team are ruthless - zero aces, 20 service errors, andonly Nikolov with a double-digit score (10 points), which seems to show what kind of team was on the court. Even Trento allowed themselves the luxury of making many errors, but prevailed in all elements and finished with four players with double-digit scores in the three games: top scorer Michieletto (13 points), Rychlicki (12), Lavia (11), and Flavio (10).

Trentino Itas – Cucine Lube Civitanova 3-0 (25-20, 28-26, 25-19)

TRENTINO: Bristot, Pesaresi (L) DNP, Michieletto 13, Sbertoli 1, Pellacani 4, Garcia Fernandez, Rychlicki 12, Magalini DNP, Laurenzano (L), Lavia 11, Bart DNP, Flavio 10, Acquarone DNP. Head Coach: Soli

CIVITANOVA: Chinenyeze 7, Gargiulo 2, Leal 4, Orduna, Bisotto (L) DNP, Balaso (L), Boninfante 3, Porya, Nikolov 10, Lagumdzija 8, D'Hulst, Podrascanin 2, Bottolo 6, Tenorio DNP. Head Coach: Medei

Notes: game durations 26', 31', 24'. Total time 1h 21'.Trentino: service errors 16, aces 1, blocks 9, attack efficiency 49%, reception 62% (28%).Civitanova: service errors 20, aces 0, blocks 5, attack efficiency 38%, reception 48% (27%).