Luxembourg, April 25, 2017. Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA have had a superb season so far – taking the top honours in the Italian national cup, finishing on top of the pile at the end of the regular season in their national league and progressing to the final stage of the Italian championship – where they will soon take on TRENTINO Diatec. However, there is something more on top of their wish list: Cucine Lube want to reclaim the CEV Volleyball Champions League crown they won back in 2002.

It has been 15 years since Cucine Lube stood on top of the podium in Opole, Poland – and since that glorious day, all of their attempts to repeat that feat have failed. This time around, they have a star-studded roster to rely on and they have done everything possible to make sure they become the new ‘kings’ of European Volleyball.

Last year they had to be content with bronze in Krakow after losing to TRENTINO in the semis and the same happened in 2009 in Prague – so CIVITANOVA will first try to make amends for these ‘domestic’ setbacks when taking on hosts Sir Sicoma Colussi PERUGIA on Saturday in the second of two semi-finals at PalaLottomatica.

Cucine Lube surprisingly dropped their first match in Pool B losing to Germany’s BERLIN Recycling Volleys but after that, their run has been an almost impeccable one – they lost 2-3 at home to PGE Skra BELCHATOW but after taking the two sets they needed to secure their spot in the Playoffs 6.

CIVITANOVA will take to the court with some of the world’s best Volleyball players wearing their shirt – setter Micah Christenson, outside spiker Osmany Juantorena, opposite Tsvetan Sokolov, libero Jénia Grebennikov, to name only a few. There is no question that, as far as domestic competitions are concerned, Cucine Lube have been the dominant force this season – but now they want to conquer Europe as well.

Taking a closer look at the matches they have played this season with PERUGIA, Cucine Lube have won two out of three. At the very beginning of the 2016-2017 season, CIVITANOVA lost 1-3 to PERUGIA in the semis of the Italian Supercup but this setback came shortly after their players had come together after a long summer with their respective national teams. Later on, Cucine Lube recorded two wins in the regular season of the Italian league – first at home (3-2) and after that on the road as well (3-1).

Therefore, everything is set for a real ‘Clash of the Titans’ on Saturday, with the eventual winners of the Italian derby going to challenge Zenit KAZAN or Germany’s sensation BR Volleys for the most coveted crown in European Volleyball!

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