The weekend break was good for Rana Verona, who picked up where he left off, snatching a clear victory in the Veneto derby against Pallavolo Padova. After an initial balance, Coach Stoytchev’s team moves smoothly and confirms the positive moment. The Scaligeri, therefore, have achieved their seventh success in their last eight Super League outings and with this result they rise to 28 points in the standings. Worth mentioning is the performance of Keita, who in his first start in front of the crowd at the Pala AGSM AIM deserved to win the MVP award thanks to a performance characterized by 24 points, with 2 blocks and 60% in attack. Mozic also scored in double figures (18), while Spirito stood out on serve with 3 aces. Next stop at PalaBarton: Perugia on Sunday 11th.
In the initial lineup, Coach Stoytchev confirms Spirito in the control room, inserting Keita as opposite, while Dzavoronok is in the squad together with captain Mozic. In the center there is space for Cortesia and Grozdanov, with D’Amico in the role of libero.
The first ball is put to the ground by Crosato with a winning first half, to which Keita responds immediately. Rana Verona accelerates and takes the lead in the score, with Mozic signing the two-point lead (5-3). The guests attack, but Keita makes the most of a dirty ball and puts his team back ahead, before the ace scored by Spirito to make it 9-7. The pursuit of the opponents continues, with Verona re-establishing the distance with a first-time shot from Mozic (11-9). Keita is precise along the line, then Cortesia scores from the center of the net and scores the +3 (14-11). Padova reduces the gap, but Mozic explodes his power from the second line for 17-15. Keita is again decisive from place two, before the monster block signed by Dzavoronok (20-16). The Malian hammer is uncontrollable and the locals take off, also thanks to the Czech’s ace (23-17). The score opens in favor of the Scaligeri with Mozic’s hand-out (25-19).
The second half opens again with Keita on top, then the Paduans are reactive in defense and overturn with Garcia’s attack (2-3). The temperature rises when the two teams start an intense exchange, which ends with a point for Verona thanks to Falaschi’s dribbling error (6-5). Spirito and his teammates contain their opponents’ attempts well and with Keita they maintain a decent advantage, increased by the Ligurian director’s own ace (11-8). On the other side of the pitch, Plak converted the first half, before blocking the Scala team to make it 14-12. The Juventus comeback attempt was dampened by the winning diagonal Dzavoronok, who anticipated a save from D’Amico that brought applause which led to the score of 19-15. Two aces from Porro relaunch Padova, but Spirito is equally precise in his serve (21-19). Grozdanov scores the set point from place three, Padova cancels two, but Gardini’s service error gives the Scaligeri the partial (25-23).
At the start of the third set, Verona makes the immediate overtaking and with Dzavoronok’s ace takes the lead to 3 to 1. Keita hits the line with surgical precision, then it is Mozic who takes the stage: first he lands a great attack, then he bends Gardini’s shot from nine meters to make it 8-5. Plak and Garcia try to do badly on serve, finding two aces that allow them to fuel their hopes of recovery (10-9). Verona doesn’t lose its clarity: Keita still shows off all his power, Mozic does the same, but it’s the number 9 himself who drives the crowd crazy with an ace that gets stuck in the conflict zone (17-13). The home team stays in front and prevents their opponents from returning to the game. Dzavoronok plays cunningly from place four and sends his team ahead by five (20-15). Porro keeps the Paduans alive, but Mozic goes hands-out, before Falaschi makes a mistake in serving and puts the end to the match (25-20).
SCORESHEET
Rana Verona – Volleyball Padova 3-0 (25-19; 25-23; 25-20)
Rana Verona: Spirito 3, Keita 24, Mozic 18, Dzavoronok 7, Cortesia 1, Grozdanov 5, D’Amico (L), Jovovic, Amin, Sani, Mosca, Zanotti, Bonisoli (L). All. Stoytchev
Padua Volleyball: Falaschi, Garcia 8, Porro 15, Gardini 7, Plak 9, Crosato 5, Zenger (L), Zoppellari, Stefani, Desmet 3, Taniguchi, Truocchio, Fusaro (L). All. Cuttini
Referees: Piana (1st), Lot (2nd), Tundo (3rd)
Video Check Officer: Barbers
Set duration: 27′; 30′; 28′; total: 1h25′
Attack: Rana Verona 51%; Volleyball Padua 46%
Walls: Rana Verona 3; Volleyball Padua 7
Ace: Rana Verona 9; Volleyball Padua 4
MVP: Noumory Keita
Spectators: 3165
from