Ran Takahashi was man of the match on Wednesday, when his Mint Vero Volley Monza produced another big win in the Italian men’s SuperLega Credem Banca. The Japanese outside hitter topped the scorers’ chart in Vero Volley’s away victory at Rana Verona in an advanced fixture of next week’s fifth leg.

• Watch Italy’s SuperLega Credem Banca live and on demand on VBTV.

It was Vero Volley’s third big win over a strong opponent in as many away matches since the start of the season. After shutting out Cucine Lube Civitanova and Valsa Group Modena, the team from Monza downed another stellar squad and climbed to number two in the current standings ahead of this weekend’s fourth leg, on a 3-1 win-loss record and 9 points, separated from leaders Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza on set ratio. For Rana Verona, however, it was the third loss and they are standing in eighth place on 1-3 and 4.

22-year-old Takahashi impressed with four kill blocks and an ace towards the match high of 21 points, which earned him the Most Valuable Player nomination. His Canadian cross-court teammate Stephen Maar added another 17 points, including two aces and a block. Another Canadian, opposite Eric Loeppky, who entered the court during the third set and started in the fourth, contributed 12 points, while middle blocker Gabriele Di Martino also reached the double digits with 10.

Four players scored 10+ points on Rana Verona’s side as well. Iranian opposite Amin Esmaeilnezhad and 21-year-old Italian outside Francesco Sani led the home team with 18 points each, while Bulgarian middle Aleks Grozdanov and Czech outside Donovan Dzavoronok finished with 12 apiece.

“It was a match of great patience against a team that fights a lot,” Vero Volley’s middle blocker Gianluca Galassi. “We did well to make the most of the chances we had to turn the game around. The first set went very well, but in the second set and the first half of the third set, we were really in difficulty as we have only been in difficulty against Perugia this season. There are situations in which we need to improve and we know it: we need to do even better, because we want to get as high up as possible.”

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 4th leg schedule:
Nov 11, 20:30 local (19:30 UTC): Itas Trentino Trento v Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza
Nov 12, 16:00 local (15:00 UTC): Pallavolo Padova Padua v Cisterna Volley
Nov 12, 17:00 local (16:00 UTC): Mint Vero Volley Monza v Gioiella Prisma Taranto
Nov 12, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Allianz Milan v Cucine Lube Civitanova
Nov 12, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Valsa Group Modena
Nov 12, 20:00 local (19:00 UTC): Farmitalia Catania v Rana Verona

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024: full schedule and results

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