The semifinal series between Cucine Lube Civitanova and Itas Trentino will continue. The defending SuperLega Credem Banca champions struck back in the third match of their playoff to stay in contention. Trentino now lead the best-of-five series by two wins to one and will host the fourth match on Sunday at 18:00 local time for a second chance to progress to the Italian final.

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Argentinean setter Luciano De Cecco was the man of the match on Thursday evening. Organising Lube’s offence, he wove his magic to help achieve a 62% overall success rate in the team’s attacks, with two spikers, Robertlandy Simon and Ricardo Lucarelli, shining at individual rates of 86% and as many as four players scoring in double digits in a speedy three-setter. In front of over 2,500 spectators at the Eurosuole Forum, De Cecco steered Lube to an emphatic 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-17) victory and claimed the MVP award.

In addition to his high efficiency in first tempo attacks, Cuba’s Simon claimed four kill blocks and delivered two aces towards a total of 12 points. His second ace delivered the match winner and crowned his contribution to Lube’s win. Brazil’s Lucarelli produced the match high of 15 points, including two aces and a block. Italian opposite Ivan Zaytsev chipped in with 14 winning spikes, while young Cuban outside Marlon Yant scored 11 times. De Cecco also put his name on the scorers’ list with an ace in the first set. The only player to score in double digits on Trentino’s side was Italian opposite Daniele Lavia with 11 points to his name.

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