Simone Giannelli’s performance was a real treat to the nearly five thousand fans at the Pala Barton on Thursday evening as he led Sir Susa Vim Perugia to a four-set home win over Mint Vero Volley Monza in the first match of Italian SuperLega Credem Banca’s best-of-five championship series.

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The star playmaker not only conducted his team to a 3-1 (27-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-23) victory by pushing four of his attackers to double digits, but also himself scored 6 points, including a match-high 5 kill blocks towards the team’s success, to earn the MVP nomination.

Sir’s Ukrainian outside hitter Oleh Plotnytskyi shared the top scorer honours of the match with his Japanese counterpart on Vero Volley’s side. They produced 18 points each, with Plotnytskyi also putting on a great blocking performance, resulting in 4 stuffs. On the winners’ side, Tunisian opposite Wassim Ben Tara finished with 17 points, Polish outside Kamil Semeniuk put away 13, while middle blocker Roberto Russo added another 12 points, spiking at a 79% success rate.

Canadian outside Arthur Szwarc, who came in during the match to substitute for his compatriot Stephen Maar, scored 16 times for Vero Volley, while middle blocker Gianluca Galassi delivered 10 points for the visiting team.

“It was important to win tonight. It's a final and it can't be easy,” Russo commented. “We were a bit inconsistent and had some mistakes, but we were good at staying in the game against an excellent opponent. We have to try to resolve the things that didn't go well tonight. We have to work and we will try to improve in view of game two.”

“I think the match against Trento taught us a lot. This is only the first match of the series against Perugia. On Sunday, we will have another opportunity,” said Szwarc. “We had a good chance in the first set, playing together as a team. Then we struggled a little more in the second and we weren't able to get back into the match.”

The series now moves to Monza for the second game on Sunday afternoon.

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 championship playoff – 2nd leg:
Apr 21, 15:15 local (13:15 UTC): Mint Vero Volley Monza v Sir Susa Vim Perugia

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 third-place playoff – 2nd leg:
Apr 20, 20:30 local (18:30 UTC): Allianz Milan v Itas Trentino Trento

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 fifth-place playoffs – semifinals:
Apr 22, 20:30 local (18:30 UTC): Rana Verona v Valsa Group Modena
Apr 22, 20:30 local (18:30 UTC): Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza v Cucine Lube Civitanova

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024: full schedule and results

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