Osmany Juantorena tries to get past the block of Sebastian Sole and Gabriele Nelli as he leads Cucine Lube Civitanova to an immense win over Diatec Trentino in the Italian League.
Lausanne, Switzerland, February 12, 2017 - Cucine Lube Civitanova crushed Diatec Trentino 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-15) Sunday evening to extend their lead at the top of the standings in Italy's men's UnipolSai Superleague with three rounds to go until the end of the Regular Season, as action picked up over the weekend in domestic leagues around the world.
Led by Osmany Juantorena, who was named MVP of the game, and top scorer with 19 points Tsvetan Sokolov, Lube demolished Trentino in just 744 minutes before an ecstatic home crowd of more than 4,000 at the Eurosole Forum.
Lube defeated Trentino from the service line scoring 10 aces to 1 and out-attacked their opponents 52 per cent to 33 per cent.
The result sees Lube break away by nine points at the top of the table, practically securing the pole position that guaratees home advantage throughout the playoffs.
Sada Cruzeiro heads into continentals with new Superleague winJust over a week ahead of the South American Club World Championship (21-25 February in Montes Claros), reigning world, continental and Brazil champions Sada Cruzeiro of Contagem continued on their winning ways with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-10) sweep of Minas Tenis Clube in Belo Horizonte.
Exceptionally evenly distributed scoring with 10 points each from Evandro Guerra, Yoandy Leal and Robertlandy Simon, plus Isac Santo's MVP-winning performance were key to the win, which keeps Sada Cruzeiro undefeated after 17 matches, seven points ahead of Sesi Sao Paulo at the top of the Superleague standings.
Zenit on the rebound in Russian SuperleagueIn Russia, after surviving a five-set scare a week earlier in Kemerovo against Kuzbass, defending champions Zenit Kazan bounced back this weekend with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-21) at home over Fakel Novy Urengoy. Wilfredo Leon with 21 points led an inspired Zenit attack (40/87 for 46% to 28/82 for 34%) which clinched the match.
This keeps Zenit undefeated in 19 matches and safely in the lead of the Superleague three points ahead of Dinamo Moscow, who beat Neftyanik 3-1 (25-17, 25-21, 31-33, 25-20) on Saturday, with opposite Pavel Kruglov and outside hitter Aleksandr Markin leading the scoring for the winners on 17 and 16 points respectively.
Race for Club Worlds heats up in PolandZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle allowed Asseco Resovia Rzeszow to close in within three points at the top of the Polish Plusliga table, after dropping two sets in their 3-2 (23-25, 23-25, 25-119, 25-19, 15-11) comeback win over Jastrzebski Wegiel. When they finally got going, the defending champions overwhelmed their opponents in all skills, with Sam Deroo scoring 19 points and Dawid Konarski adding another 17.
Despite the dropped point, ZAKSA still enjoy the lead in the standings - though only three points now, after Resovia beat Cerrad Czarni Radom 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-14) on the back of Rossard Thibalut's 20 points.
The winners of the Polish league gets an automatic berth as hosts at the 2017 FIVB Club World Championship, next December.
They will be joined by the European, South American and Asian continental champions, the winners of two of the top domestic leagues in the world, plus two wild cards.
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