International sitting volleyball
29 Jun 2024
Parma and Sempeter to face off in the Golden EuroLeague final in Nottingham
The Italians clinched their place after victory in the first of the two last four matches at the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Sports Centre with a comfortable victory over Hungarian side Mozdulj SE.
Running away with the second set, they were stretched in the other two, but eventually triumphed 25-19, 21-6, 25-21 to spark celebrations and a group selfie.
The other semi-final was much tighter – the closest match of the tournament so far between two evenly-matched sides.
Dream Volley Pisa drew struck the first blow as they claimed the opening set 26-24 that was on a knife edge throughout.
However, Sempeter showed they were made of stern stuff and bounced back to take the next two, 25-20, 25-21.
With their tails up, and despite a strong fight from Pisa, they were then able to close out the match, by winning the fourth set 25-21.
Earlier, the pool games had been concluded to decide who would advance to the semi-finals and who would play in the fifth v sixth play-off.
First on court were defending champions Sempeter, fresh from their Friday evening victory over Panthers, against GiocoParma.
The Italians made their intentions clear early on in their first Pool A match as they powered their way to a first set victory.
Sempeter responded in a hugely-entertaining second set to make things much tighter before Parma edged it by the slenderest of margins 29-27.
With their confidence high the team in white made relatively short work of the third set, winning it 25-16 to shock the Slovenians, who knew they would likely have to settle for second place in the pool.
That was confirmed when Parma were soon back on court to face Panthers where they were again straight sets winners.
Backed by their home support, the Panthers put in a strong performance in the first set, only for the Italians to come through 25-19.
From there, the visiting team took control and ran out 25-15, 25-9 in the remaining two sets to ensure they topped the group in style.
In Pool B, the other Italian side, Pisa, were just as dominant.
Having won their opening match on Friday night against ASUL Lyon, they were back to book their semi-final place with a three-set succcess over Mozdulj.
They were pushed hard at times, in the first and third sets in particular, before securing a 25-25-18, 25-11, 25-21 triumph.
The other team to progress from the pool were Mozdulj, who had impressed in victory over Lyon.
They were 25-19, 25-13, 25-16 straight sets winners ovwer Lyon, a result which ensured they progressed to the last four.
Images by Jon Cornish
You can watch the action on the ParaVolley Europe YouTube Channel by clicking here.
