Chieri, coached by Kento Hayashi, won the first leg of the European CEV Cup final 3-0 and is one step away from winning the title

In the first leg of the European Volleyball Confederation CEV Cup semi-finals, Chieri (Italy), coached by Hayashi Kento, faced NUC (Switzerland) on Wednesday, March 13th local time, and won 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 26-24).

First set starting lineup

Kieri
OH: Skinner (USA), Kingdon (USA)
MB: Zacchaeus (Cyprus), Weitzel (Germany)
OP: Globerna (Belgium)
S: Marinov (Italy)
L: Spirito (Italy)

NUC
OH: Heyns (USA), Scamblay (USA)
MB: Gross (USA), Blanka (Switzerland)
OP: Grubs (USA)
S: Pierrette (Switzerland)
L: Delhi (Switzerland)

*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero

MVP: OH Avery Skinner (USA)
13 points (3 blocks)
Attack effectiveness rate 42.86%

As a result, Chieri will be crowned champion if he wins just two sets in the second match of the final.

The second leg of the final will be held at Chieri's home ground (Turin) at 28:45 on Wednesday, March 20th (Japan time).

The next Italian league match will be against Cuneo on Sunday, March 17th at 27:30 Japan time.

Comments from Coach Kento Hayashi

Finally, the CEV CUP FINAL has begun.

The venue was packed, with around 150 fans coming from Italy to support us, including our official supporters "Briganti Ultras" who travelled 5 hours to Switzerland!

From the beginning of the match, NUC hit us with high-risk, high-return serves. We were trying very hard to hold out on the reception. On the other hand, we had a hard time breaking down the opponent with our serves, and we exchanged side-outs.

Captain and opposite Groberna came to the rescue, coming back from a poor run of form in recent weeks to take a closely fought first set.

From then on, our total defense started to work little by little, but it was difficult to control the cross attacks that NUC's Scambray launched from short sets from slot 5, and we were unable to defend them until the final set.However, our attacks from our receptions were effective and we were able to win in straight sets.

Looking ahead to the next match, we will be considering how to weaken the opponent's OH attacks and once again raising the target of our serves as we head to the "Last Dance" to be held at home next week.

Don't miss the last moment!!!

Photo: CEV