The support of 4,000 home fans and a brilliant performance from Matey Kaziyski pushed Itas Trentino to start ahead in the Finals of the 2022-2023 SuperLega Credem Banca as the first match was held in Trento on Monday.

With their talismanic captain in spectacular form, Trentino secured a 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 25-17) victory over defending champions Cucine Lube Civitanova and now lead the best-of-five series that will determine the Italian champions 1-0. The duel continues on Thursday, May 4, when Lube will be at home for the second encounter between the teams.

· Watch all SuperLega Credem Banca matches live or on demand on VBTV.

Playing with Trentino for the fourth time in his career since the 2021-2022 season, the 38-year-old Kaziyski started his eighth Italian League Finals on fire. Involved in each of Trentino’s four SuperLega titles (2007-2008, 2010-2011, 2012-2013, 2014-2015), the opposite left the court in Trento with a match-high 22 points after he tallied 18 kills, three blocks and one ace.

“I still think we could have played a little bit better, myself included,”  a humble Kazisky said after the match. “But I'm really happy with this victory as it got the series started in a good way for us. It was nice to feel the sensations that only the Scudetto Finals bring and to send our fans back home smiling after the amazing atmosphere they created.”

Star outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto also had a big night in his first appearance in the SuperLega Finals, producing 17 points (15 kills, one block, one ace). Other standouts for Trentino were setter Riccardo Sbertoli, who besides doing an excellent job with his ball distribution also got two blocks and two aces, and backup outside hitter Donovan Dzavoronok, who came off the bench to score the winning point in the third set.

Also playing in the Italian League Finals for the first time, Lube’s 19-year-old outside hitter Aleksandar Nikolov didn’t feel the pressure either, leading the defending champions in their road effort with 20 points (19 kills, one ace).

Italian veteran opposite Ivan Zaytsev and young Cuban outside hitter Marlon Yant also scored in double digits for Lube, producing 14 points apiece.

“The first three sets were very close, but we made too many mistakes, especially with our serving, and that was the difference,”  middle blocker Simone Anzani reflected. “I also felt we were a little too nervous on the court, but that's normal considering it was the first match. We'll be in front of our fans on the second match and the goal is to even the series right now.”

Blocking represented the main difference between the teams in the opening match of the Scudetto Finals, with Trentino getting ten stops to Lube’s three. All other statistical categories were close, with the winners leading in aces (4-2) and opponent errors (30-27) and the defending champions getting more points from kills (56-54).

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