The Lube Civitanova, where Cuban volleyball player Marlon Yant plays, fell this Wednesday against Trentino in the fifth and decisive match of the Italian League final, thus breaking his chain of three consecutive titles in the most demanding professional circuit on the planet.
In front of 4,000 spectators at the BLM Group Arena, Trentino took advantage of their local status and prevailed with an indisputable 3-0 (25-20, 25-20 and 25-19), led by the young Italian star Alessandro Michieletto, author of 17 cartons.
The hosts recovered from the tough defeat suffered in the fourth challenge and, buoyed by their twist, they knew how to face Lube, winner of the last three Scudettos. This time, the defending monarchs’ serve couldn’t wreak havoc (they scored just one ace), while Trentino regained their killer instinct in defending the net by scoring 10 blocking goals.
The leading voice was led by Michieletto, who had 3 blocks plus 14 points on attack, in addition to achieving 69% effective receptions. This last detail was one of the keys to the match, as the libero Gabriele Laurenzano and the other assistant Daniele Lavia also ended up with more than 60% of effective receptions, which clearly speaks of their recovery against the powerful service of La Lube.
The other crucial figure for the winners was the 38-year-old veteran Matey Kaziyski, author of 13 points, 3 of them with his serve. The Bulgarian opposite, who has played 10 seasons with Trentino at different stages, won his fifth Italian League title, just 15 years after his first crown in 2008.
Civitanova, for his part, had the highest points to the youngsters Aleksandar Nikolov and Marlon Yant, the only ones who achieved double figures. The Bulgarian got a dozen points, all with his attack, while the Cuban had 11, one of them with the block.
However, the team accused the absence due to injury of the experienced Ivan Zaytzev, who had no substitute. Neither the Puerto Rican Gabi García nor the Italian Mattia Bottolo performed up to the task in the decisive fight, which greatly limited the chances of victory.
After this outcome, the list of Cuban champions in Italian volleyball remains unchanged, with Osmany Juantorena at the top. The man from Santiago, who just a few hours ago confirmed his return to the Italian League for the following season with Modena, has won 6 Scudettos, 2 with Perugia (2010-2011 and 12-13) and 4 with Lube Civitanova (2016- 2017, 18-19, 20-21 and 21-22).
Juantorena is not only the greatest Cuban winner, but one of the players with the most titles in the history of the Italian circuit, where he is considered an absolute legend. The other Antillean volleyball players who have climbed to the top of the podium in the transalpine competition are:
Robertlandy Simón: 3 crowns (Lube Civitanova/2018-2019, 20-21 and 21-22)
Yoandy Leal: 2 (Lube Civitanova/2018-2019 and 20-21)
Marlon Yant: 2 (Lube Civitanova/2020-2021 and 21-22)
Ihosvany Hernandez: 1 (Piaggio Roma/1999-2000)
Osvaldo Hernandez: 1 (Piaggio Roma/1999-2000)
Angel Dennis: 1 (Lube Banca Macherata/2005-2006)
Leonel Marshall: 1 (Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza/2008-2009)
